Senju and Uchiha: The Forest and the Flame
by LiamMorg
Summary: What if the events of Naruto's birth were changed by a shift in fate? Kushina's seal was strangely unaffected by Naruto's birth and Obito was unable to release the Kyuubi. How could this affect not only the fate of Naruto but also of that of his Uchiha teammate? Can he protect her from her hatred or will it fester and erupt? The answer lies within. NaruFEM!Sasu. Bloodline Naruto.
1. Before it all Began

**Senju and Uchiha: The Forest and the Flame**

**For the first time, again... I don't own Naruto. How you perceive this notice... is up to you.**

**Just a reminder to those who refused to read my summary, this is Naruto x fem!Sasuke. NOT YAOI. Never Yaoi...**

**Welcome, one and all to my second story. This story is going to be an AU story, I guess you could say... but not exactly. It's set in the same universe, but the story changes rather drastically because of this first chapter and one tiny event I changed that will be referenced later. **

**WARNING: I'm just going to note it down here, if I could add 'Drama' to the category I would... since this is going to be a drama-ridden story. The Senju and Uchiha were not meant to get along... just warning y'all before you complain.**

**That's all I have to say, please enjoy... **

_**Prologue Arc**_

**Chapter 0/Prologue: Before it all Began**

**-Start-**

This is the tale of two clans, one that searches for peace and stability and another that is destined to fall to hatred and seeks out power and war. These clans are the Senju and Uchiha clans, the eternal rivals, descendants of the greatest Shinobi in existence. This tale will show the most recent cycle in their long war... and it all starts with a birth.

They say that birth is a wonderful thing; that it is the beginning of a new tale in the book of life, but how true is this notion? The truth was that a birth could be the most tragic event of a person's life, whether it be because the mother dies during childbirth or... something else...

This birth was something else.

* * *

Minato Namikaze – more commonly known as the 'Yondaime (Fourth) Hokage' or the 'Yellow Flash' – was a smart and very powerful man. His wife, Kushina Uzumaki – also known by the title 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero' – was a great Shinobi in her own right, being the descendant of one of the more powerful clans in history. It was not publicly known that these two were a couple, for their child's safety.

Yes, the two were expecting a child and Kushina was well into her pregnancy. It was October 10th when the baby was finally ready to be born and Minato – as Hokage – was forced to have Kushina bear her child far outside the city for safety reasons. These reasons were simple, Kushina was not only his wife and her life could easily be put at risk if his enemies were to learn of the pregnancy... but she was also the Kyūbi (Nine-Tails) Jinchūriki.

It wasn't publicly known that she was a Jinchūriki either, since Konoha – under the rule of the Sandaime (Third) and later the Yondaime Hokage – wasn't one of the villages that thought of their Jinchūriki as mere Shinobi instruments; as tools to be used to better their military standing. In hindsight, that was foolish since the Kyūbi was the strongest Bijū by a large margin... but no matter.

They were already aware that the child was a boy, and they knew they were going to name him Naruto. It wasn't a normal name, being influenced by a novel written by Jiraiya of the Sannin, but it fit the bill quite nicely so the happy parents were adamant that they use it.

Minato went ahead of Kushina to prepare the birthing area which was a notable distance away from Konoha which wasn't really good considering Kushina was nine months pregnant, but alas sacrifices (and mistakes) were made. Biwako Sarutobi – the wife of Hiruzen Sarutobi, The Sandaime – was escorting our red haired soon-to-be mother to the birthing area.

The two parents were still pretty young, in their early to mid twenties at maximum. It was rather a shock when Minato was appointed Hokage so early in his life, but his skill made him deserving of such things. He was also very clever and perceptive, unlike his wife who was wild and emotional... a person who's anger was feared across the village.

Kushina was just about the last Uzumaki left alive to the knowledge of the public, and very few even remembered who the Uzumaki Clan were. Due to this, she secretly hoped that he would inherit the clan's signature red hair, so that he could carry on their legacy and hopeful help bring the clan back to glory once more.

That was all conjecture, however and Kushina in quite the rush. She wouldn't publicly state it, but she was fearful of childbirth since it was notoriously painful. That didn't dampen her excitement though, since she probably couldn't have been more ecstatic.

She then noticed her best friend, Mikoto Uchiha on the way past. Despite the average attitude of the Uchiha Clan – which was overconfidence and 'coolness' – Mikoto and Kushina got along well, but the two hadn't seen each other since a little time before Mikoto gave birth to her second child.

"Oh my, was it a girl?" Kushina asked with enthusiasm, the baby in her friend's arms getting her even more excited. Mikoto smiled genuinely at the question as she looked down at the child.

"Yes, it's a girl" Mikoto replied with a small chuckle at her friend's attitude. Kushina lowered herself closer to the baby's face before closing her eyes with a bright smile.

"Oh she's so cute! What's her name?" The red head questioned, using a silly tone while looking right at the little girl's face. Mikoto looked down at the baby again as it was brought up.

"It's Satsuki." The Uchiha woman answered warmly, as Biwako came over with a puzzled look on her face – not that Kushina noticed, too taken with the child.

"That's an unusual name." The older woman stated inquisitively, obviously prodding for the reason for the name. Mikoto tilted her head slightly with an even face.

"We were originally expecting a boy, so we were planning the name to be Sasuke, after Sasuke Sarutobi... but when we learned we were having a girl, we changed the name but kept it similar." She answered plainly, obviously not that enthusiastic about having to explain the name of her child to the woman.

"Well, maybe it'll grant the child some luck in her future." Biwako stated wisely, as Mikoto flashed her a small smile of gratitude. It then occurred to Mikoto that she may have overlooked something.

"You'll be giving birth soon too, right Kushina?" The raven haired woman said, as Kushina hummed in acknowledgement. "...you should pick a name in advance." She advised kindly, but Kushina just raised a finger with a large smile.

"I already have, his name will be Naruto..." Kushina said warmly, before lightly ruffling Satsuki's head. "You'll be classmates Satsuki-chan, so I hope you get along." She stated, making the other two women smile at her. Kushina then leaned close to Mikoto before placing her hand to the side of her mouth – facing Biwako – to stop the other woman hearing her.

"By the way, does it really hurt?" The red-head whispered gravely, with a clearly unenthusiastic look on her face. Mikoto smiled somewhat nervously, finding her friend's worry somewhat ridiculous.

"So there _is_ something that scares you, Kushina! I'm surprised!" Mikoto retorted jokingly, before Kushina was dragged away by Biwako against her will. Mikoto smiled while looking down at her daughter, with one last thought running through her mind.

_'I hope they do get along.'_

**-At the Birthing Site-**

Naturally Kushina was dreading the actual act of giving birth, but that still didn't exactly prepare her for the event...

"It hurts Dattebane!" She exclaimed in pain as the birth neared, with Minato being stood over her ensuring her seal didn't break while Biwako and the other mid-wives were working on... well, the birth itself.

"I've never seen Kushina-chan in so much pain..." Minato said worriedly, since he was naturally concerned for the woman that he loved being in what seemed like agony. "...is she... all right?" He said nervously, making Biwako glare at him.

"She's all right! Never mind that, just stay focused on the Kyūbi's seal!" The woman ordered. Despite the fact that Minato was the Hokage nobody bothered to tell her off, so she was obviously in charge of the situation.

"But... she's..." The blond man started somewhat meekly, making Biwako glare at him once more.

"You are the Yondaime Hokage! Act like it!" She ordered and – again – received no repercussion from the action, before looking back to Kushina's crotch... for medical reasons. "...A man would've dropped dead from such pain long ago... but women are strong!" She asserted confidently, having experienced it herself.

While Minato's hands were firmly placed upon Kushina's stomach – where her seal was located – he couldn't help but notice the... lack of resistance from the Kyūbi. Apparently a female Jinchūriki's seal was meant to weaken during childbirth, but very little weakening was actually happening. In fact, the beast's chakra seemed almost... calm.

_'What's going on?' _Minato thought to himself with furrowed brows. _'...I was told that the seal was meant to be weakening a lot right now, to the point where it would break if I wasn't stabilizing it... but nothing is happening...'_ He continued, trying to discern exactly what was going on.

There were a few reasons for a Bijū to be unresponsive in situations like this, one of them being Kushina's chakra on its own. Her chakra chains were fully capable of stopping the Kyūbi in its tracks, while other things like the **Mokuton (Wood Release)** or **Sharingan (****Copy Wheel Eye)** were capable of fully subduing one. There were probably other methods, but he wasn't aware of them.

So the real question in mind is _what_ exactly was causing the Kyūbi to be so unresponsive right now? It couldn't be Kushina, since her chakra was too... unfocused at the moment and he doubted it was the **Sharingan** or the **Mokuton** since there were no Uchiha Clan members present and the **Mokuton** hadn't been seen since the Shodaime (First) Hokage.

_'It's not important right now... this is a blessing if anything! Just hang in there, Kushina-chan.' _The man thought to himself as he looked over at Biwako and Kushina before finally settling on her stomach. "...hang in there, Naruto!" He seemingly ordered, though it was more for his own and Kushina's benefit than for Naruto.

Minato wasn't nearly as strained as Kushina was, since her seal seemed to be handled by whatever strange force was suppressing the Kyūbi. He vaguely picked up Biwako mentioning the head was out, so he shook his head as Kushina let out another pained cry, before a distinctly child-like cry filled his ears.

He widened his eyes as the cries continued, as Kushina quickly took a few breaths of relief that the birth was over as a tear rolled from her eye in joy that Naruto – _her son_ – was now born. Minato then let out a laugh of joy as he wiped his own eyes with his sleeve, exclaiming that his son was now born. Biwako quickly chastised him – for seemingly the hundredth time that day – for attempting to see the child before Kushina.

As the child was brought before her, she saw several distinct traits about him. Despite just being born he had a noteworthy level of hair on his head, all of it red to her liking (not that she'd tell Minato that) and 3 black, whisker-like marks on each cheek. He also had very bright, blue eyes like his father... so they each had something reflected in the child.

"Hey Naruto..." Kushina said a little weakly, but with no small measure of affection. "...I finally get to see you." She stated happily, before Biwako raised the baby boy back up so she could carry him off, saying that they could see him later... but Kushina didn't really hear any of it, too overjoyed that her child was now with them, that she had a baby of her own... it was a riveting thought.

While things were happening around her, Minato placed his hand upon her own while flashing her a concerned but very appreciative smile.

"Are you alright, Kushina?" Her lover asked, as she gave a convincing yes. "...Kushina I... thank you." He added affectionately, as Kushina took on a look of appreciation and adoration. It was always so comforting to know Minato appreciated her and her efforts so much.

Sadly the moment was ruined as a loud scream echoed from the side, as the two looked to see Biwako and the other mid-wife fall to the ground while a man with a yellow mask, decorated with a black flame pattern, held Naruto in a very threatening pose.

"Yondaime Hokage. Step away from the Jinchūiki..." The man ordered, as Minato and Kushina inwardly had a heart attack. "...or this child will die in its first hour of life." He continued, as Minato forced himself to relax for Naruto's sake. This _really_ wasn't a good situation for anyone involved... especially not the mid-wives.

The first few thoughts raging in Minato's sharp mind were how the man managed to get past their defences, who he was and why he wanted Kushina as a Jinchūiki... and on this day of all days. It was far too suspicious that anyone could know that she was a Jinchūiki, that this was her delivery day and that they'd be here of all places. Who could he be?

As Minato looked over at Kushina – seeing that she was still mostly fine – the man pulled out a Kunai and held it uncomfortably close to Naruto, making Minato and Kushina panic... as their first reaction anyway.

"Wait a second! Just calm down!" Minato urged, not being able to think remotely straight in this situation. His newborn son was being threatened with death by a man who had the advantage in all aspects... there was little deducing to be done, this wasn't good.

"I am as calm as the ocean on a fair day... you on the other hand..." The masked man stated, as he threw Naruto up into the air before jumping after him intending to kill him.

"NARUTO!" Kushina shouted in panic, not being able to do anything since she was significantly weakened after delivering a child in the last 10 minutes.

Minato then quickly sped past and grabbed Naruto before coming to a stop, while Kushina let out a sigh of relief. The masked man let out a small chuckle as paper bombs flickered to life on Naruto's wrapping.

"Minato!" Kushina shouted, as he noticed the bombs on the wrapping and promptly threw it away before disappearing in a yellow flash. Kushina resorted to a mixture of glaring and cowering in return to the masked man's presence in the room... alone with her. She had heard what he said, and it certainly couldn't be good news if he was after her because she was a Jinchūiki.

The man casually stared at her for a few seconds before walking towards her at a rather agonizing pace. Kushina wasn't sure if she was refusing or simply too concerned to speak, since her mind was hardly on a steady level at the moment.

The man then grabbed her arm, before seemingly coming to a surprised stop as though he saw something he didn't expect. He let out a rather furious sounding growl before turning to Kushina, a fully matured **Sharingan** spinning in the singular hole of his mask. Kushina gulped instinctively, but noticed there was no incoming Genjutsu... the tomoe shapes seemed to be spinning out of rage alone.

"Why isn't your seal damaged?!" The man shouted at her, as she recoiled in a mixture of surprise and worry. She was _very_ surprised that her seal wasn't damaged, at least not to a degree this man deemed 'acceptable'. She was worried that he seemed ready to kill her in the next few moments if something didn't happen to his benefit.

The man obviously took Kushina's silence as an act of defiance, since he growled once more before grabbing her and seemingly absorbing her into his eye. Minato was busy ensuring Naruto's safety, hiding him away in their residence, so he could not help out for the moment. All Kushina knew, was that this probably wasn't going to end well.

* * *

Another unimpressive location is where the man reappeared, before unceremoniously releasing and dropping Kushina to the ground. It wasn't that the location wasn't nice, it was just unimportant and seemingly useless in the grand scheme of things. When the man began to raise Kushina's top, she began to get a very uncomfortable image... but quickly noticed that he stopped once her seal was easily visible.

"What are you... doing?" Kushina asked with noticeable difficulty. Generally after childbirth a mother was expected to rest, but she was doing the opposite. It wasn't exactly good for her body. The man let out a snort of derision before replying.

"Since your seal is somehow in one piece... I'll need to change my plans." The man replied, obviously unhappy with the surprise that Kushina wasn't going to be easy prey after her birthing for whatever twisted plan he had with the Kyūbi.

The man placed a hand atop her seal and placed the other in a one-handed seal. Kushina could feel the seal reacting quite violently to the invading technique or chakra, since she began to feel the Kyūbi growing very restless within her. It wasn't often that she'd have to deal with the Kyūbi since she did a rather good job suppressing it on her own, but there were exceptions to that theme.

_'Yes, that's it...'_ The man thought with sick satisfaction as the seal began to become damaged; the stability and longevity of the sealing matrix lessening as the moments rolled by.

"What do you want with the Kyūbi?!" Kushina shouted with both anger and agony, she was not very adapted to the chakra of the Kyūbi since she rarely had it invade her chakra system so this new influx of the beast's chakra was causing her significant pain.

"I'm going to release it... and use it to destroy Konoha." He replied darkly, as his singular **Sharingan** seemed to glow menacingly in response to the statement. Kushina couldn't believe what she was hearing, such a specific plan would've taken a lot of planning... simply discovering her identity as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki would've been hard enough.

"What?!" She replied in shock, in disbelief that this lone man was plotting to destroy a whole village single handedly. She had to admit that – in theory – the Uchiha were perfect for such a task since a subjugated Kyūbi would be an undeniable asset, but it seemed ludicrous for him to get away with it.

The man made no obvious response to her shocked and angered statement, too busy continuing to degrade her seal so that he could accomplish his maniacal plan.

"Minato's teleporation technique is quite fearsome... allowing him to move between any location bearing his seal formula. He even placed one on the Kyūbi's seal... for your protection." The man stated for no obviously reason, bringing it up out of the blue. _'For that reason... I need to hurry...'_ He thought. He wasn't stupid, he knew Minato could stop his plans if the man really tried, but he was confident he could get away with it if-

His thoughts were cut off as he felt a presence behind him, before a Kunai literally went through his face. He then jumped to the side to see Minato standing over Kushina with a mixture of bewilderment and seriousness. It couldn't be easy to accept that someone could become fully intangible.

"Trust _you _to interfere, Minato... though I suppose you aren't feared as the Yellow Flash for nothing..." The man stated with obvious irritation, his plan steadily falling apart. If the seal had been weakened like he'd been sure of, then this wouldn't be happening! He'd managed to manually weaken it to an irreparable point, but not enough that the Kyūbi would be released anytime soon.

Minato simply took to glaring at the man while Kushina lay on the floor, still exhausted. She was beginning to feel some strength return to her body though, and decided that it would be a good idea to wait for a moment to retreat or something... else. Minato would undoubtedly take it upon himself to defeat this masked man, so that wasn't exactly a huge problem... but they had no idea the true strength he possessed... and how could he become intangible? Certainly such a thing was impossible!

Suddenly and without pause, the man dashed at Minato with surprising speed. Minato threw one of his signature three-pronged Kunai at the man and it once again went straight through him. Pulling out another one, Minato stabbed at the man and went through him. The man then grabbed Minato and began sucking him into some sort of vortex in his eye. Minato's eyes widened before he teleported to the Kunai he threw through him at the beginning, as the man turned to face him.

_'He can make himself completely intangible when I strike, and yet he becomes physical to strike back. He's also capable of absorbing someone... or sending them somewhere through contact... who is he?' _ Minato thought to himself as the man let out a small laugh. Kushina had moved a small distance away to avoid being caught in the crossfire, but was feeling the damage on the seal.

"You're quick, Yondaime... a more elusive foe probably does not exist." The man said, as he dropped a chain out of his sleeve before attaching it to each of his wrists via small bracelet like sections on each end of the chain. Minato stared at the man closely, looking for any obvious weaknesses as the man pulled down his hood.

"Why are you here? What do you want with the Kyūbi?" Minato asked, his stance becoming more serious as he prepared for another attack. The man was obviously sure he could do something to the beast to make it follow him and he was an Uchiha, which could only mean...

"I wish to use it to destroy Konoha... I guess you could say I simply want the village gone." He replied vaguely, his **Sharingan **once again simply staring right at Minato while it began to shine darkly.

"As Hokage, I can't allow that." Minato said confidently as the man dashed at him again, this time accompanied by the chain flailing in a seemingly useless fashion behind him. Minato threw another Kunai at the man as he formed a Rasengan in his hand. The man reached out at the same time and was just about to make contact as he seemed to eye smile. _'I win...'_ He thought, before Minato disappeared.

He then felt a powerful blow slam into the back of him which caused him to fall the ground as the earth shook from the force and damage. He let out a grunt of pain as Minato jumped back, before he stood up, one of his arms _melting_ from the damage into a white gooey substance.

_'He used that Kunai to teleport behind me... damn you Minato...' _The man seethed in his mind as he realised his plan had little chance of success at this point. He growled angrily as Minato seemed to stand victoriously.

"Your plans end here... face it, you've lost." Minato said with certainty, as the masked man growled at him but remained otherwise still. Letting out a sigh, he locked eyes with the blond man.

"You win this time Minato... but the Kyūbi WILL be mine, there are plenty of ways for me to do so." He said, before he began to absorb himself into his own eye which was an unusual sight. He then felt a surge of pain and the absorption stopped prematurely. He looked down to see a distinct golden chain impaled through his chest.

"N-no! I forgot... about her...!" The man shouted, as he dropped to his knees. Kushina walked out into the clearing slowly as she retracted her chain back into nothingness. Minato promptly walked up to the masked man before stopping and staring the man in the eye as he fell to the ground, dead.

"Nice work, Kushina-chan." Minato said warmly, though the situation had him worried more than a few times. Fortunately he was the strongest person in Konoha – or maybe second strongest, since the Sandaime wasn't known as the God of Shinobi for nothing – so the man wasn't able to succeed in his crazed plan.

He bent down to take off the man's mask and when he did, he couldn't help but notice the man was familiar to him. He didn't know many Uchiha clan members personally, especially none with one side of their face significantly scarred... it was strangely familiar to the tale Kakashi told him of how his Uchiha student died...

"Obito?!" Minato exclaimed in shock as he looked down at the very familiar face of his once thought dead student. It was undeniable, if Kakashi was to be believed his body was completely crushed on one side, and on that side was the arm that fell apart and the same side where his remaining** Sharingan** eye was located. It was simply too similar to disclaim.

Kushina looked on sadly as her husband looked at his fallen student. The death of Obito – and later Rin – had hit him far harder than he'd let on publicly. He was a strong Shinobi who was in charge of his emotions, so he could keep them hidden if necessary... but seeing his student trying to do something like this was a hard pill to swallow.

Minato looked down with a said frown after he got over the initial shock. How his old student not only survived but became the man in front of him was beyond his imagination... why wouldn't he have returned to the village? Why did he seek its destruction? So many thoughts and possibilities that would now never be explained...

"Minato-kun..." Kushina said quietly, not sure how he felt. What she wanted to say was important though, and it couldn't wait. When he turned his attention to her she knew that he had remembered what had just happened.

"Kushina-chan! Are you alright? Did he... do anything?" Minato asked quickly and concernedly, making Kushina feel the need to laugh at his overprotective attitude. She didn't laugh though, since Obito _did_ do something quite bad...

"I'm fine... for now. He damaged my seal, I don't think it can be repaired." She said with fear in her tone. It wasn't common knowledge, but most Jinchūriki knew the fate that preceded them if their Bijū were to be released or extracted from within them. Minato looked on with shock as he registered what the problem was.

"Then... what do we-" Minato started, unsure what needed to be done in this situation. Kushina smiled unconvincingly as she covered his mouth with one of her hands to cut him off mid-sentence.

"I'll probably need to transfer the Kyūbi to someone else." The red-haired woman said strongly, but she certainly wasn't_ feeling_ confident about it. She didn't wish to die; to leave her son without a mother... there was the possibility she could live due to her Uzumaki heritage, assuming she received proper medical care, but there was the undeniable possibility that transferring the Kyūbi would kill her.

"Are you... sure about this?" The blond man asked neutrally, trying not to let his emotions rage free since he was all but certain he'd become very illogical and try to talk her out of it, which would be a terrible idea since she'd end up dying when the Kyūbi broke free anyway.

"It's the only option, if I don't transfer it the Kyūbi will be released. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but eventually." Kushina stated surely, since it was unavoidable. Minato couldn't help but nod at her logic, finding it a little funny that she was acting the most level-headed of the two of them.

"But who would you transfer it into?" Minato asked, unsure of who they could use. "...the only person I can think of... is... is..." He continued, before realising that the only readily available and suitable candidate would be...

"Naruto..." Kushina muttered lowly.

A thick silence is what invaded the atmosphere after the proclamation, since the two parents were faced with the almost impossible action of turning their own flesh and blood child into the container of a dangerous monster. It was certainly not an action either of them would've liked to choose. Minato looked at Obito one last time before shaking his head.

"Then I guess that's the answer..." He replied, while the two of them had the decency to look remorseful of the action they were about to take. Minato just prayed to Kami that Kushina would survive. Grabbing a hold of Kushina, they both disappeared in a yellow flash.

**-Minato and Kushina's Home-**

Minato and Kushina appeared a split second later at their home, greeted with the sound of a crying child. They both felt joy surge within them as they heard it, despite their situation. They'd both been so ecstatic to know that they would become parents, it was just the best thing that could've happened to them... and for it all to be potentially ruined was heartbreaking.

Looking over at Kushina, Minato could tell she wasn't at 100%, but she was obviously trying to downplay it to not appear weak. She was a self reliant person, for the most part... always being tough and actually quite dominant, which was part of the reason people could be so afraid of inciting her anger. That didn't mean that Minato let her get away with foolishness though.

"If you're not fit to do this, we can wait a little while... your chances are frightening enough as it is." The blond said comfortingly, not wanting Kushina to risk her life more than she already was. She gave him a small smile before shaking her head, obviously not willing to follow that course of action.

"I don't know if I _can_ wait... I don't exactly know how damaged my seal is, since Obito didn't do it in a very skilled way." Kushina replied, her knowledge of Fūinjutsu coming in handy since she could tell straight away that Obito was just doing the best that he could to damage the seal without any sort of method.

Minato ran a hand through his hair in annoyance, it was hard for him to be angry at Obito since he had no idea what the boy had been through since his 'death'... but he _did _attempt to kill both Kushina and Naruto, so he definitely wasn't just going to ignore it.

Wordlessly accepting her logic he walked over to the bed that Naruto was currently in with her at his side, before Kushina scooped him up and a small tear silently fell down her cheek. She would absolutely hate herself if she died transferring the Kyūbi into him, since not only would she be burdening him – for his whole life, for that matter – but also ridding him of his mother.

Minato gave himself a few second to breath before summoning a small sealing altar, while Kushina placed him down atop it. He then used the **Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style) **to create a powerful sealing matrix for the Kyūbi to be sealed into. For the moment, the seal remained empty... but that would all be rectified shortly.

"We should go to the hospital for this." Minato said, his tone not giving her much room for argument. The logic wasn't exactly difficult to perceive, since a hospital would have an abundance of medic-nin that could stand in waiting for Kushina to transfer the Kyūbi before moving in to attempt to stabilize her.

"OK... let's go." Kushina replied quietly, looking terrified at having to face her own mortality. There was a reason Jinchūriki were carefully selected, because they were not intended to be switched until their lives were over.

Once more, the duo disappeared in a yellow flash, a crying red haired baby along with them.

**-At the Hospital-**

Minato was an intelligent and predictive person, which was why he had market all important locations in Konoha with his **Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) **seals. Now was one of the few times he actually used them, since daily life seemed awfully dull when you could get your daily tasks done in a quarter of the time.

The two appeared a brisk walk away from the hospital and quickly made their way to it, Kushina carrying Naruto and Minato ensuring she didn't push herself too much. Once arriving inside they quickly became the centre of attention, with everyone looking on with obvious shock at the child in their possession.

"Are they together?"

"Hokage-sama has a child?!"

"I bet he's just helping her out!"

"He's so hot!"

Many comments like these – and many others – were quickly shot around the room as Minato looked on with a mixture of embarrassment and slight annoyance at their very nosy attitudes. It could be forgiven, since he was – by all accounts – a very popular Hokage and leader to the village.

Ignoring most of the attention they were getting, the two walked up to the front desk like anybody else – breaking the receptionist out of her reverie. She quickly straightened out her stance to a rather laughable proportion, but Minato wasn't planning on laughing anytime soon.

"I'm going to need a few highly experienced medic-nin and a private room, quickly if you don't mind." Minato said with authority but also respectfully, in a way that didn't seem to fit the village leader while talking to a mere hospital staff member. She nodded rigidly before speaking.

"O-of course, Hokage-sama!" The receptionist said, as she walked off before ushering them to follow her. After a small walk – and up a few flights of stairs – they arrived at a secretive room, which was at the end of a hall and was quite out of the way. She lead them in before dashing off to find a few staff members.

Minato then lay Kushina down to a bed, giving her the most convincing smile he could before the requested medic-nin arrived. Minato let out a cough before straightening out, getting into what he liked to call 'Hokage mode'.

"I bet you're all wondering what I called you here for..." Minato started, earning a few nods and a yes or two. "...what I'm about to say _will not_ leave this room, understood?" He continued, as they all nodded once more, realising that this was far more important than they were led to believe.

"Alright... Kushina here is the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi, but her seal was damaged earlier today after an incident with my son's birth..." He started, earning a few gasps as he mentioned his son, which could only have meant she was also the mother. The fact that she was a Jinchūriki was probably the least shocking thing he said. "...therefore, she needs to transfer it to another person... who will be my son. The transference could kill her... so I need you all to do your best to keep her alive. Are you all capable of doing this?" Minato continued, finishing with a serious question.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" They all chorused together confidently, secretly easing Minato's nerves quite a bit. He walked to Kushina's side before placing his hand on her own to comfort her. She nodded at him, before placing her own hand on Naruto's stomach – where the seal was placed – before a red mass erupted from her hand and was slowly drained into him.

She quickly felt weakened by the action, as Minato took Naruto off her and directed the medical staff to move on her while he watched with an even face. It wasn't that he wasn't worried, it was quite the opposite, but he knew if he showed his feelings he may cry in front of numerous people... which wasn't good as the Hokage.

As a non medic-nin he had no clue how things were going, but based simply off the rather frantic running around the doctors and whatnot were doing he could tell that this wasn't a simple procedure and it wasn't exactly going well. As if he could sense what was going on, Naruto began to cry while Minato attempted to soothe him.

At some point, Kushina had lost consciousness and the medic-nin began working at a much faster pace and as the minutes turned to hours, Minato wasn't sure what to think. When all the medics came to a sudden stop, all looking tired but otherwise fine, he felt like things might have worked out.

"She's stable... Hokage...sama." One of the medics breathed out tiredly, as a large smile broke out across Minato's face before he walked over and placed Naruto at Kushina's side, knowing that having him with her would probably benefit her in some small way.

"Thank you all... so much." Minato said joyously, as they all smiled at the gratitude and joy in his voice. "...can anyone report her condition?" He added, now acting far more seriously. One of the medics cleared his throat as the attention shifted to him.

"She's undergone a lot of stress... and her chakra system is badly damaged by the removal of the Kyūbi... besides that, she should be fine. We repaired the chakra network as much as possible, but she may not be capable of Shinobi duties for a while. We recommend she not perform any strenuous activity." The man said professionally, as Minato nodded at the analysis. It was comforting to know she didn't have any long term side effects, and not being able to do Shinobi related duties wasn't so bad since she would need to look after Naruto anyway... not that he wouldn't help, it was just that he had Hokage related duties.

"Thank you. You're all dismissed, I'm very grateful for your efforts..." Minato said, before remembering something. "...but remember: none of this leaves this room... not the exact details anyway, you can make a sort of alibi; tell people Kushina was experiencing post-birth issues." He added, as they all nodded before making their way out, though many shot another look at Naruto and let out an aww.

Once they were all gone, Minato let out a long breath and collapsed into a seat beside the bed. It had been a long day, but they'd all made it... and now they were a family.

Life... was looking good.

**-End-**

**Yep, Naruto is now a red-head. Why? 'Cause he should be, that's why! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go pout about the lack of logic in regards to certain features of the Naruto universe...**

**Hope you guys enjoyed it, all the key features were explored. The 'strange' suppression of the Kyūbi, Sasuke being a girl, Naruto being a red-head and Obito being... dead. Huh, that rhymed... in a _very_ morbid way. I realise Obito's death may seem... rushed, but it was a necessary evil.**

**I hope you all enjoyed the first (technically not the first, but whatever) chapter of 'Senju and Uchiha: The Forest and the Flame' because I'm looking forward to writing this story! It's gonna be wild!**

**Right! Tell me if there are any glaring issues, I'm open to criticisms here guys (assuming they're constructive). I ask that you all please remember to review/favourite/follow (or maybe all three ;3) and have a great day!**

**For the first time, again... **

**LiamMorg. Out.**

**Ja Ne!**


	2. The Young Descendants

**-Guest Reviews-**

**Guest: In regards to your statement about Obito using Izanagi, I will agree that I did not consider that. HOWEVER! He did not obtain a spare eye until the Uchiha massacre, so therefore using Izanagi would've made him use up his Kamui Sharingan, along with his only eye at the time. Whether he used it or not, he still would've been defenceless, since he wouldn't have been able to escape or see at all without any eyes. So there... that's my counter-argument.**

* * *

**I don't own Naruto... if I did, this story would be canon... or maybe Small Changes would be...? Hmm, whatever.**

**So, I'd like to start off by saying how deeply impressed I was by the level of follows/favourites I received... in a day! I swear, it took me like a month to get 100 follows on Small Changes (that _may_ be an exaggeration).**

**Good neeews everyone! Since I finished this chapter and the next chapter of 'Small Changes' early, I'm posting them early!**

**Quote of the chapter/day: "Unexpected occurrences are both bad and good, depending on what they entail. Regardless, one should always plan for the bad, lest they be beaten before they begin."**

_**Prologue Arc**_

**Chapter 01: The Young Descendants**

**-Last Chapter-**

"_Thank you. You're all dismissed, I'm very grateful for your efforts..." Minato said, before remembering something. "...but remember: none of this leaves this room... not the exact details anyway, you can make a sort of alibi; tell people Kushina was experiencing post-birth issues." He added, as they all nodded before making their way out, though many shot another look at Naruto and let out an aww._

_Once they were all gone, Minato let out a long breath and collapsed into a seat beside the bed. It had been a long day, but they'd all made it... and now they were a family._

_Life... was looking good._

**-Start-**

The day had been nearly disastrous for Minato, Kushina, Naruto and the whole of Konohagakure... so nobody could blame the new family for sleeping off the night.

Well, they _tried _to anyway... unfortunately for them little Naruto was being rather loud throughout the night. Kushina and Minato would take turns attempting to make him sleep, or attempting the 'tough love' thing of letting him cry it out... suffice to say, neither option worked very well. It was almost horrifying just how much oxygen such a small person could use up in one night.

For this reason, the couple were absolutely exhausted. It seemed Naruto didn't understand the difficulties of the day, since he made no attempt to make it any easier on them. Still, the day had passed and now both Minato and Kushina had duties to deal with. The list wasn't exactly short, but Minato decided to start with the most pressing.

He sent out a message to assemble the elders and the Sandaime so he could discuss the events of the previous night, along with breaking the death of Biwako to the previous Hokage. It was never easier doing these things, but fortunately Hiruzen was an old and wise man, so he would probably be able to deal with it. So here he was, in his office with Hiruzen, Koharu and Homura – the two council members.

"I bet you three are wondering why I called you here so urgently..." Minato started, standing from his seat and walking around the front of his desk. The three of them nodded calmly, since it was fairly rare that Minato called upon them. "...there was an incident last night, involving the birth of my son." He continued, not caring that neither of the council members knew he was having a child. Hiruzen was well aware, since his wife was in charge of delivering the child and Minato trusted him a great deal.

"What kind of incident are we talking about?" Hiruzen asked neutrally, also ignoring the looks of shock from the two council members. Homura gained an annoyed and indignant scowl from the lack of attention the two Hokage were showing them, and decided to air his concerns.

"Hang on a minute, why were we not informed of these events?!" Homura shouted at Minato, who rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, not having time to put up with these two fools. It was a tiring day, night and morning... he just wanted to get this over with!

"As you may or may not be aware, my wife is... was the Jinchūiki of the Kyūbi, it was in the village's best interest that people who were aware of that information not be informed about the pregnancy... to avoid _exactly_ what happened yesterday." The blond Hokage said sternly, making Homura fall silent quite quickly. It didn't serve him much good to argue with Minato, the man was very effective in his planning.

"You're saying that someone attempted to take advantage of the seal's weakening?" Hiruzen asked suspiciously. It was almost impossible for someone to obtain all the information required to make such a move, and for Minato to call them all meant it must've been nearly successful. Homura and Koharu looked shocked at the statement, since they were well aware of the repercussions.

"Yes... that person was able to infiltrate the barrier, use my son as leverage to separate me and Kushina _and_ nearly succeeded in releasing the Kyūbi. We were only able to stop him because the seal was less weakened than it should've been." Minato replied bitterly, severely disappointed in himself for allowing someone to get so close to releasing the Kyūbi. The fact that this person was Obito, who was nowhere near his prowess before his 'death' was all the more concerning.

"What... what happened to Biwako?" Hiruzen asked concernedly, while Minato's face fell somewhat. It really wasn't nice to deliver this news...

"I'm afraid she died, Hiruzen." The man replied sadly. Hiruzen nodded and lowered his head a little before clearing his throat, looking far more passive than he was expected to be. It was clear he was using his expertise to hide his emotions, though that probably wasn't good for him.

"What happened to this man? Who was he?" Koharu asked inquisitively, deeply interested who could get the better of Minato Namikaze, one of the strongest Shinobi alive. Minato frowned at the question, not really happy about it.

"The man is dead. His name... was Obito Uchiha, my 'deceased' student." He replied calmly, and Hiruzen quickly remembered the news of Obito's death. If the boy had survived such a fatal situation, then there was obviously something suspicious going on.

"Was this a plot from the Uchiha clan?" Homura asked sternly. Minato suppressed the urge to sigh at the question, since the council always seemed to need a reason to blame the Uchiha clan. It was strange, but it was mostly due to the Nidaime's distrust of the clan... and the fact that the council along with Hiruzen and Danzō were in his team.

"I don't believe so. He seemed to be acting of his own accord, since his plan was to ravage Konoha... the point is, we need to bolster our security. I don't want this happening again." Minato said decisively, not giving room for debate. The elders – along with Hiruzen – got up, gave a bow and quickly left. Minato let out a sigh, this would be a long day too...

**-Namikaze Household-**

"Pleaaaase stop crying Dattebane!" Kushina quietly raged, having more issues than she was ready to with little Naruto. He was like a tiny demon, sent to ravage her eardrums... not that she thought that; a mother always thinks their child is an angel... well, all _good_ mothers. That didn't stop Naruto from crying though, since it seemed impossible to stop the boy.

_'I need a better plan...'_ Kushina thought to herself, a small vein bulging out of her head. Who could blame her for having a short fuse right now? She gave birth, was immediately kidnapped, transferred a demon linked _very_ closely with her chakra network and got barely any sleep through the night! Worst. Birth. Ever!

"Would you like to hear a story Sochi ('son', I think...)?" The red-haired woman asked the child, who actually seemed to quiet down a little to look at her intently, though it may have been her imagination.

"Alright, let's see...oh! How about a little story about where I came from? It was a huge city called Uzushiogakure that was filled with people from the Uzumaki clan, Tou-san was a nice man named Kuniumi Uzumaki... I never knew my mother, but I remember my Tou-san saying she was an attractive blond woman who got pregnant on accident." Kushina started, thinking back to the description of her mother... something about a beautiful blond Shinobi who was there temporarily, to restock on supplies.

"...anyway, everyone there had red hair, like you and me, yes that's right! Like you and Mommy!" The woman said playfully, as Naruto started giggling cutely. She was somewhat glad nobody was around, but this was how mothers were meant to be, right? "...the village was on an island surrounded by big whirlpools; big spinning water things!" She said excitedly as she spun around a little for reasons not discernible to anyone who may have been watching. She then felt a presence and paused, turning very slowly to see the smiling face of Minato.

"Don't you say a word." She hissed with a very distinct blush. Minato laughed at her embarrassment, not quite sure why she thought he'd care that she was doing what she was. That was quite normal for mothers, so it wasn't exactly a bad thing.

"I thought that was wonderful, I knew you'd be a great Mom." Minato said warmly, as he walked forward and hugged her, their child between them looking more complacent than he had since his birth. Kushina's blush somehow deepened as she turned away with a small smile

"D-don't say stuff like that, geez." Kushina stated, clearly embarrassed with the situation. Minato decided to relent for now, seeing that if she got any brighter her nickname may start to hold some credence.

"I came home because Kakashi is coming around... I need to tell him about Obito..." Minato stated casually, before hearing the door knock. "...oh, speak of the devil." He continued with a smirk as he walked over to the door. Opening it, he saw his student clad in his regular ANBU uniform, missing only the mask.

"'Sup Minato-sensei?" Kakashi said coolly. Minato laughed a little awkwardly at Kakashi's 'hip' attitude (as Guy had taken to calling it). Gesturing him inside, he walked a few feet before pausing, his singular eye being glued to the young form of Naruto. "...i-is that...?" He continued in surprise, having somewhat forgotten about the boy's birth date.

"Kakashi, I'd like to introduce you to my son Naruto!" Minato said proudly, making Kushina smile as she looked down at him. Kakashi tentatively walked over to the woman and looked at the boy, and he could quickly tell that he was their child, sharing his father's eyes and his mother's hair... it was almost uncanny.

"Hey little guy, aren't you small?" Kakashi said with warmth that he hadn't been acquainted with since the death of Obito and Rin. Minato smiled at the fact that his son could crack Kakashi's shell so easily, finding it a little amazing in fact. "...do you mind if I hold him?" He asked slowly, not sure if it was alright to ask such a thing.

Kushina pulled Naruto a little closer to her, seemingly trying to protect the child from some sort of danger. Minato shook his head casually at her overprotective attitude, she would definitely make a good mother... whether that meant she'd also spoil the crap out of the kid was irrelevant. Walking over, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a disarming look. Frowning, she slowly gave Naruto to Kakashi – but not before giving him a death glare should he do something wrong.

Giving the woman a small eye smile – since even at this age, he still wore his infamous mask – Kakashi very carefully took Naruto off her. Naruto quickly looked up at Kakashi with a seemingly interested face, before cutely raising his hands to touch the silver haired boy's face. Kakashi laughed at the boy, somehow knowing that he would be rather close to the child in future.

"He's very lively, isn't he?" The silver haired boy stated with amusement, as Minato and Kushina laughed along with him... though they couldn't say that was always a good thing.

"You have no idea..." Kushina muttered a little bitterly. He'd been around for a day and a half and was already giving her a serious headache. Still he was far too cute to hold it against him, it was like trying to be mad at a puppy giving the 'guilty look'... it was just too damn difficult.

The couple allowed Kakashi to hold Naruto for a little while before deciding to get down to the reason he was actually there, since that would probably ruin the atmosphere. Kakashi had always taken Obito's 'death' pretty hard, and now that they knew the boy survived _and _somehow became a crazed villain... well, it wouldn't be easy to take in. Minato gestured to Kushina, so she took Naruto off Kakashi before he took him into another room.

"Now, for the real reason I called you over." The blond Kage started slowly, rubbing the back of his head a little nervously, it _really_ wasn't easy to deliver this news. Kakashi centred his attention on Minato, who let a sigh escape him before beginning.

"Yesterday, after Naruto was born we were attacked by a man who was able to infiltrate the barrier around the village along with killing the ANBU. After causing a fair amount of trouble, we were able to kill the assailant, who wore a mask throughout the engagement... after removing it I discovered that the man was... Obito." He said professionally. Kakashi naturally looked shocked at the announcement, looking away from Minato with wide eyes.

"O-Obito?! B-b-but he died, he would have returned if he was a-" Kakashi stammered out, before Minato cut him off by gripping his shoulder to stop him. Kakashi then turned his gaze to Minato's face, who had nothing but seriousness etched into his features.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but it's the truth... I don't know how he survived, nor where he's been, but he had one side of his body scarred, he had only one **Sharingan** eye – on the same side... it all fits in." The Hokage replied, making Kakashi frown sadly. It was understandable, so Minato did not attempt to say anything to comfort him... it was likely that Kakashi wouldn't appreciate it.

When Kakashi recovered, Minato saw him off. It seemed as though Kakashi's life wasn't getting much easier, but hopefully he'd cheer up sometime soon. Maybe he could find a special someone, or perhaps they could have him interact with Naruto, since he seemed to have taken a liking to the child. He could even be a kind of brother figure, that would certainly be something!

**-Four Years Later-**

"Kakashi-nii! Stop using Ninjutsu you cheater!"

The shout came from a four year old child with somewhat wild red hair, three whisker marks on each cheek and bright blue eyes. This child was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, since Kushina and Minato couldn't decide what surname for him to adopt. There was the choice of their family name, Namikaze and Kushina's clan name, Uzumaki. Both were important, so they figured it would be best for him to just have both.

The reason he was shouting was because he and Kakashi were having a 'spar', that generally involved Naruto trying to hit Kakashi while the man just laughed at his feeble attempts to do so. It was a rather productive exercise, since Naruto was quite a determined child, so the laughing would encourage him to do better while Kakashi could use the time to interact with his 'brother'.

As an only child who's only parent killed himself when he was quite young, Kakashi didn't really have any experience with family. He figured the way he interacted was like he would interact with a younger brother, so the two ended up treating each other as such. It was good for both Naruto and Kakashi, since Naruto had a role model and Kakashi had a pseudo-family member.

Naruto had also met his godfather at the age of two, a rather eccentric man by the name of Jiraiya. He was a very perverted and cheery individual who generally seemed to live life to the fullest while he could, which given the fact that he was in his forties wasn't looking that long... Shinobi life expectancy wasn't the best. Naruto had taken quite the liking to Jiraiya, though Kushina threatened the man with a fate worse than death should he corrupt her baby with his unflinching perverseness.

Minato and Kushina were both making the most of parenthood, which wasn't very difficult for either of them since they were extremely happy with their family and child. Kushina would – as Minato predicted – spoil Naruto whenever she got a chance, and the two were practically inseparable. Minato knew that Kushina would probably have a mental breakdown when Naruto was old enough to move out, but that was that. Minato was also a very good parent, being both strict and caring as to raise a nice but also hard working child who was happy with his life.

Naruto himself was a very sociable and nice boy, nearly to a fault. He'd try and find goodness in just about everything (Kushina _still_ remembers the day he tried to brighten up the sight of a dead dog) and was quite 'smart'... for a four year old boy. He was also ridiculously energetic, just like his mother was, due to the Kyūbi and the Uzumaki genes... it was a rather large problem when he first learned to walk, since he wouldn't bloody well stay still!

His Shinobi training – if you could call it that – was started as soon as he turned four, but it mostly consisted of throwing blunt Kunai or Shuriken and going for the occasional run. He was too young to stress his body with harsh labour, so he was explicitly barred from doing so by his mother, who was still extremely protective (it was becoming a problem too).

It became quickly apparent to both Minato and Kushina that Naruto was nearly obsessed with becoming a Shinobi and though Kushina originally argued that he shouldn't be one because she didn't want her darling child submitted to the harsh Shinobi world, she eventually relented since he basically needed to be a Shinobi after becoming the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. That was why Minato sometimes despised his job... since he needed to view his own son as a military asset.

A few weeks after Naruto's birth, Minato made a public announcement of his marital status and that he had fathered an heir. That quickly doused the flames of many female individuals who wanted Minato for themselves while the rest of the village rejoiced the birth of their beloved Hokage's son. That was the _good_ part of being Hokage, being important to the entire village.

The events of Naruto's birth and the surrounding occurrences still troubled Minato to no end, and he'd allowed Kushina to kill Obito so there was no questioning the boy about his motives. Then there was the seal, there was no viable reason for it to have stayed so... _stable_ throughout the entire birthing. It was all very confusing...

...But back in the current, Naruto was still glaring at Kakashi cutely for the usage of Ninjutsu during their 'spar'. If Kakashi was being honest, he got careless and nearly let Naruto hit him, before using a **Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) **to escape.

"Sorry Naruto, I didn't think... you're getting better though, soon enough you'll be stronger than I am." Kakashi said warmly. One of the best things about interacting with a four year old boy like Naruto was that you could always marvel at the look of happiness on their face when you told them something they wanted to hear. It was contagious... like a deadly virus... of joy.

"You bet I will! Then I'll beat Tou-san and become the strongest person in the village!" Naruto boasted childishly, though Kakashi couldn't find it in him to argue. Off to the side around a small table, Minato scoffed jokingly at the proclamation while Kushina giggled cutely at Naruto's attitude, it really never got old.

"Of course you will, so long as you work hard for it." The silver haired man retorted wisely, making Naruto frown cutely in thought. Minato was glad that Kakashi was teaching Naruto important things like this. It wasn't as if he wasn't doing so himself, it was just refreshing to know Kakashi wouldn't fill his head with nonsense.

Kakashi had opened up a lot over the past four years – thanks in no small part to little Naruto, the bundle of joy – and had managed to overcome his PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) that had resulted from the death of Rin at his own hands, even if it was inadvertent. Obviously Kakashi's interaction with Naruto was very beneficial to his mental health, so Minato encouraged it when possible.

As Naruto continued to [pointlessly] attempt to attack Kakashi, Minato and Kushina were just watching with amusement, pride and contentment. Life had indeed been pretty awesome since Naruto was born – even if they included the times where he would keep them up all night – to the point where Minato was starting to get _too_ cheery. It really didn't reflect well on him as Hokage if he was always happy about everything, but he hardly cared.

There was the slight issue with the Hyūga clan last year, when a supposed peace treaty was used as a guise by Kumogakure to attempt to kidnap the clan heir of the Hyūga. It ended rather badly for them, since the one who attempted to do so was quickly killed by Hiashi Hyūga – the clan head – and the whole thing ended in failure. Kumo attempted to get Hiashi killed and sent to them for the 'betrayal' of the treaty, but Minato was sharp and easily able to negotiate the event to a point where neither side benefited from the endeavour.

"He really is the best child we could have hoped for." Kushina stated with adoration. She and Minato had probably gotten even closer since Naruto was born, and the two were far happier now that their marriage was public knowledge.

"No arguments here." Minato replied, pulling Kushina closer to him. She made no movement to stop him, allowing herself to rest against his side. Over the last four years she still hadn't been very capable of Shinobi duties and her chakra network was still recovering, though she had no daily issues whatsoever as long as she acted carefully. It was a source of irritation that she couldn't really reach Naruto much of anything, but so long as she got to spend time with him she didn't really dwell on it too much.

On another side of Konoha, another important child was enjoying their own time.

**-Uchiha Compound-**

"Nii-san, could you help me with my Shuriken training?" A cute, four year old girl with black hair in a small ponytail and equally black eyes asked. Her brother turned to her and gave her a quick prod on the forehead with his index and middle fingers.

"Forgive me Satsuki-chan, maybe next time." Came the voice of Itachi Uchiha, the prodigious son of Fugaku Uchiha, the head of the Uchiha clan. Satsuki frowned in a childish pout, turning away from Itachi. The boy in question chuckled lightly as he began walking away, giving a quick wave to Satsuki before leaving.

Satsuki Uchiha was also the daughter of Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha, but due to Itachi being the eldest and being regarded as a prodigy she wasn't given as much attention. Due to this, she began to adopt a more serious outlook than most kids her age, being very serious about becoming strong and respectable to earn her parent's attention (or at least her father's).

Her general attitude was still quite warm, since she got plenty of love and attention from her mother and brother – whenever he was around – though her father would unintentionally focus on Itachi to ensure he became as great as he could be. She was far too young and naïve to fully understand these things, but she could still be a little upset by them.

Her mother – Mikoto Uchiha – walked into the room to see her daughter obviously pouting for some reason or another, and if the sound of the door was any indication it was probably because Itachi had just left. She wasn't a Jōnin for nothing; she did know her stuff, even if she was retired due to the need to raise two children.

"Don't pout now my angel, you know your brother would love to help you with your training, but he's a Shinobi and he does have duties of his own." Mikoto said suddenly, making Satsuki whirl around to face her. The young girl nodded politely at the statement, since the Uchiha clan tended to be quite strict about appearances. Mikoto shook her head at her overly polite daughter and walked over to her... honestly the girl was four years old, she didn't need to get her manners down quite yet.

"Come on Satsuki-chan, let's get going." Mikoto said, taking her daughter's hand. Satsuki's expression took an adorable look of confusion at the statement, since they hadn't planned to go anywhere.

"Where are we going Kaa-san?" The girl asked inquisitively. Mikoto gained a slightly sly smirk at the question, knowing that the girl wouldn't expect the answer. She was a retired Shinobi, but she was no wallflower. They began walking as Mikoto looked down at Satsuki, who was looking up at her with confusion.

"Your brother isn't the only one who's good with Shuriken." Mikoto replied, making Satsuki's expression brighten considerably.

**-Later That Day, Konoha Streets-**

Naruto and Kushina were walking through the streets of Konoha at roughly midday, shopping for some ingredients for a small meal they were planning on making. Naruto was just along for the ride, since he and his mother would always be around one another. Sometimes Minato was jealous of just how close the two of them were, but it was hard to get upset at just how cute they were.

"Kaa-san, when can I start learning... uhh... what was the thing with seals called again?" Naruto asked with almost adorable levels of confusion. Kushina laughed at the look on Naruto's face, it was so worth it to become a mother. Placing a finger to her chin, she thought it over for a second.

"It's called Fūinjutsu Naru-chan, and you can start learning it when I think you're ready." Kushina answered decisively, making Naruto pout slightly. She'd told him not too long ago that the Uzumaki clan specialised in Fūinjutsu and since then he'd been adamant about learning it, even if he couldn't always remember the name of the art.

Kushina ruffled the top of Naruto's head lovingly when she saw the pout on his face, and she could understand where he was coming from. When she was a young girl she'd always want to do everything and anything she could to become a strong Shinobi, and when she moved to Konoha she originally set her sights on the Hokage position (though Minato put a stop to that pretty quick).

The two continued to walk until they arrived at a small store, where they purchased most of the ingredients and whatnot that they needed. As they began to stroll around Konoha a little – since Kushina had made it very clear that she didn't want Naruto to get lost if he was ever alone – Kushina noticed somebody that she hadn't seen for a very long time, along with a young girl.

"Mikoto?" Kushina said in surprise. Truth be told, the two hadn't intentionally stop seeing each other, but their new children and other duties got in the way to the point where they just forgot to see the other. It was a similar situation when Itachi was born, but Kushina could go see Mikoto since she wasn't raising her own child.

"Kushina! It's good to see you!" Mikoto replied, as they walked over to each other. Naruto followed his mother while Satsuki did the same. Naruto looked over at Satsuki with interest, since he didn't know a very large amount of kids his age, other than a few he'd met by accident like Kiba and Shikamaru.

Satsuki looked over to him, noticing his rather intense gaze. Rather than blushing, smiling or any of the usual reactions a small girl would have Satsuki simply turned away from him with a small scowl, apparently finding his staring to be annoying. Naruto frowned and looked down slightly, before he smiled once more. It was quite difficult to keep Naruto sad, and now he had a new goal: befriend this interesting girl.

"Hi, I'm Naruto. What's your name?" Naruto asked, having walked over to see the girl. Kushina and Mikoto both watched on discretely, since they were both hoping that their children could be friends. It seemed Satsuki wasn't quite sure about such a thing, so she narrowed her eyes and looked over at him with little obvious interest.

"Satsuki _Uchiha_." The girl replied, stressing the Uchiha part. Naruto raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly in confusion, but decided to just let the girl get away with whatever she was trying to imply. Smiling, he he raised a hand towards her.

"Nice to meet you Satsuki!" He continued, trying to ignore her disinterest. Satsuki – being raised with courtesy and politeness as two key factors – raised her own hand and grabbed his own harder than necessary. Noting that he didn't seem pained in any way from the grip, she allowed a small smirk to cross her face. Who knows, maybe he could be a rival.

"Hn... nice to meet you too." She replied with a bit more enthusiasm than previously, though she did use her distinctive 'hn' that she tended to use when she didn't particularly care about a situation. Naruto smile brightened at the reply, as he basically filtered out any boredom in her tone mentally.

Kushina raised an eyebrow at Mikoto, who just shrugged at her daughter's attitude. She was a lovely girl when you got to know her, but she wasn't very fussed on meeting people that she deemed 'useless', which was her initial image of Naruto. It wasn't that he appeared useless, he just didn't scream 'Shinobi-material' from appearance alone, since he was almost _too_ cheery and his red hair was a bit weird... though she had to admit, it did look good on him.

"I hope we can be friends Satsuki." Naruto stated warmly, his very aura inviting the girl in. Satsuki wasn't exactly easy to break though, and she did a marvellous job of almost completely ignoring the tone and statement. Shrugging her shoulders somewhat as she released his hand, she proceeded to cross her arms.

"Maybe, anything could happen." Satsuki replied non-committally. Naruto took note of her unenthusiastic tone this time around, but only because he was able to perceive the statement as a challenge. Grinning foxily, he let out a small laugh before pointing a finger to his own chest.

"We _will_ be friends, because I don't take back my words!" The red-head exclaimed confidently. Satsuki found herself a little caught off guard by the determination in his words, since nobody had really taken a massive effort to befriend her before... hell, her own father somewhat shunned her. It brought up strange feelings to have this boy profess such a statement.

"I... believe you." The onyx-eyed girl retorted thoughtlessly. Kushina and Mikoto smiled, knowing that Naruto had obviously done something right if the look on her face was any indication. Mikoto could already tell that Naruto had a way with people, and that he'd undeniably be a good influence on her daughter... it was a good thing she and Kushina were friends, since they could manipulate events to get the two together, when necessary.

Naruto's infectious smile was almost annoying with its intensity, as though it was trying to be the happiest thing in existence. Unfortunately for Satsuki, she had little time to be annoyed by it before the 'infectious' aspect of it took over. Against her will, a small but sincere smile broke out across her face, making her turn around to attempt to hide it.

"Well we should probably be going, how about you come over some time? You can bring Satsuki if you like." Kushina stated. Mikoto nodded in acceptance, since she had no reason to _not_ go over... it had been a while since the two had been together, and it would be a nice opportunity for Satsuki and Naruto to get to know each other a little.

"That sounds good, I'll see you around Kushina." Mikoto stated, before grabbing Satsuki's hand. Giving the girl a quick smirk, she turned and began to walk away with the girl trailing just behind her.

Naruto watched the pair leave, and for some strange reason he felt a source of resonance within the girl. He didn't realise what it was of course, being far too young and unskilled to properly deduce what was happening, but he could feel a chakra within her all too similar to the one he often felt within himself. It was like their lives were intertwined.

"So, what do you think of Satsuki hmm Naru-chan?" Kushina asked suggestively. When Naruto looked at her strangely she laughed awkwardly, realising she just attempted to insinuate that her four year old child would be interested in girls. She really needed to think about things. Regardless of the way she asked the question Naruto still decided to answer.

"She's a little moody, but I think she's a nice person." He replied honestly, as was his usual reaction. Whether it was because he was four years old or because that's who he was was unclear, but Naruto never seemed to lie about anything. Kushina also knew he was a strangely good judge of character, so that was that.

Over with Mikoto and Satsuki, Mikoto was having similar thoughts. Her daughter had never been the most social person, so she would try and make her befriend Naruto if at all possible, at least so she wouldn't have no friends whatsoever when she entered the academy. The Uchiha clan were generally a little stuck up and considered themselves to be 'better' by default, so Mikoto would try to ensure Satsuki didn't follow the trend. Who knows, maybe Naruto could show her that non-Uchiha were strong too?

"So, what are your thoughts on your new friend my angel?" The Uchiha matriarch asked curiously, wanting to get the gist of her daughter's current thoughts. Satsuki frowned in thought and furrowed her brows, thinking the question over a little. Sure Naruto was a little strange, maybe a bit too cheery, but he also seemed kind, somewhat strong... wasn't bad on the eyes either. Upon that thought a tiny blush overcame her face before she promptly shook it off, she wasn't interested like that.

"He's pretty weird... but I don't think it's a bad thing." Satsuki said slowly, trying to word it the best way she could. Truth be told she didn't know what to think of him, he was just plain confusing... and she'd known him for less than an hour! At least it would make her life a little more interesting though, and that thought brought a smirk to her face.

_'Everything's going according to plan.'_ Was the shared thought of both Mikoto and Kushina.

* * *

Roughly two months passed from that point, and Naruto and Satsuki had seen each other a few more times after the initial meeting. The two seemed to have differing opinions of where their relationship was heading, since Naruto wanted them to be friends while Satsuki was almost as stubborn as he was, claiming that the two of them were rivals. Mikoto and Kushina had difficulty trying to get the two to get along due to this, so it ended up becoming a somewhat love/hate relationship.

After a little persistence on Naruto's part, Kushina started to show him a little regarding Fūinjutsu. To Naruto's horror, he had little to no skill in the art and Kushina assumed that he simply wasn't built to take it up. Naruto spent about a week in a sad spell, thinking that he'd in some way failed his clan, but Kushina was able to cheer him up eventually.

Minato had also decided to test Naruto's elemental affinity earlier than expected, simply due to the fact that he was both curious and had devised a crazy theory about a certain something that he refused to share with anyone.

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

_It was a sunny day in Konoha, and the young red-head more commonly referred to as Naruto was in a small training ground with his father, since the man had a day off after a few favours were called in. It wasn't easy for Minato to get days off, so he made the most of them._

"_Alright Naruto, do you have any idea what this is?" Minato asked, holding out a small slip of seemingly unimportant paper. Naruto furrowed his brows in confusion, wondering what his father was getting at, it was just paper right?_

"_Uh... it's paper, right Tou-san?" Naruto answered a little unsure, thinking that it had to be a trick question. Minato had taught him that lying and trick questions were somewhat identifiable by body language and facial expressions, but he hadn't gotten many of the key factors memorized yet. _

_Naturally, Minato let out a hearty laugh at Naruto's innocence and ruffled the boy's hair affectionately before quieting down. Holding the paper upwards, he poured chakra into it steadily before starting to talk. _

"_Close! It's chakra paper." The man answered, as the paper cut in two down the centre. Naruto instantly became excited at the usage of the word 'chakra', since the mere mention of the Shinobi arts would always get him in a good mood. It was always Ninjutsu that got Naruto most excited though, despite the fact that Kakashi noted he was something of a natural at Taijutsu._

_Giving a sheet to Naruto, the young boy looked at the paper like it was some sort of puzzle, wondering just what he was meant to do with it. Minato gave a quick run-down of the usage of chakra paper while Naruto listened more carefully than usual. After hearing it all, he held out his chakra paper and ran a current of chakra through it, making it get damp before turning to stone and crumbling._

_'**Doton (Earth Release)** and **Suiton (Water Release)**... could it be...?' Minato thought to himself with furrowed brows and an easily noticeable frown on his face. Naruto saw the expression and assumed that he'd done something wrong, which quickly broke Minato out of his reverie._

"_Sorry about that, it seems like you have the **Doton** and **Suiton** affinities." Minato stated, making Naruto smile at his 'awesomeness'. It was known that dual affinities were somewhat rare, so it obviously made a Ninjutsu freak like Naruto rather happy to hear he had two affinities. _

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

Since Naruto had two affinities that Minato was not trained in, he took the liberty of getting a few scrolls containing low level techniques, along with a highly classified scroll from the Hokage's library that mixed in with his crazy theory. Kakashi – upon hearing of Naruto's affinities – volunteered to help out with the boy's training, since despite his singular affinity he was trained in both **Doton **and **Suiton** (thanks to the **Sharingan**).

Kushina obviously wished to oversee Naruto's training with his water Ninjutsu, since she had a **Suiton** affinity herself, like many Uzumaki were known for. It made sense, Uzushiogakure was surrounded on all sides by water, so perhaps environmental factors affected nature affinities. It would certainly explain why each great village had a 'dominant' affinity. Konohagakure was known for fire, Sunagakure was known for wind, Kumogakure was known for lightning, Kirigakure was known for water and Iwagakure was known for Earth.

"Alright, what's first in this scroll... **Suiton: Mizurappa(1) (Water Release: Wild Water Wave)**... alright, that seems simple enough." Kakashi stated, moving back from Naruto a little. They were currently in a pretty basic training ground with fair access to all resources (Water, ground etc.). Naturally, Naruto had not yet learned to mould his chakra, but it was still wise for him to get the idea of how Ninjutsu worked on a basic level.

"**Suiton: Mizurappa(1)!"** Kakashi called out after going through a few seals. He then expelled a small stream of water from his mouth that caused minor scathing to nearby trees and washed things away. Naruto jumped in excitement from seeing the technique in use, before Kakashi turned to him with a small eye smile.

"To perform that technique, I moulded my physical and spiritual energies to create chakra. I then gathered that chakra within me, gave it the necessary element through concentration, built it up as water and expelled it. The usage of hand seals are used to focus your chakra, but skilled users can perform techniques with little to no hand seals at all."

"That... seems pretty hard." Naruto replied, looking a little crestfallen. Kakashi smiled behind his mask, his brows arched in a mixture of pity and warmth. It was always amusing to see the different expressions Naruto took on, since the boy always seemed impossible to say no to regardless.

"It can be to begin with, but it becomes second nature in no time." The silver-haired ANBU operative replied. It wasn't actually that difficult once you got a handle on it, but by description alone he could easily understand how it may come across as such. Naruto nodded, his crestfallen look being replaced with his usual radiant smile. Kakashi rolled his... _eye_... at the action while Kushina giggled on the sidelines.

"Alright Naru-chan, why don't you try moulding your chakra?" Kushina suggested as she walked over. It never hurt anyone to attempt to mould their chakra, as far as she knew. It was entirely possible that she was wrong, but the chances were slim.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, as he put his hands together as he'd seen Kakashi do previously, trying to 'feel' for his energies. After a few hours, he'd made a little progress – not enough to perform a Shinobi technique, but a noteworthy amount – and was complimented on his quick learning by Kakashi, while Kushina dotted over him like she was known to do.

**-Uchiha Compound-**

Satsuki was currently in her room, doing various girly things that she wouldn't be caught dead doing elsewhere. Then there was a knock on her door, since nobody could enter without knocking lest they face her tiny wrath. Stopping her actions and walking calmly to the door, she opened it to see Itachi, who had been on a mission for about two weeks.

"Nii-san! You're back!" Satsuki exclaimed, jumping at Itachi to embrace him into a big hug. There was a very warm side of her that she only showed to Itachi and Mikoto, though Itachi probably saw it more often than Mikoto. Itachi smiled his usual bright smile that he wore when interacting with her, the beloved sister.

"Yes, I'm very sorry I was away for so long... missions are missions I'm afraid." He replied somewhat tiredly. Long missions were probably the worst thing ever, at least when you had people you were able to miss. Pulling out of the hug, Itachi gave the girl a sly smirk. "...so why didn't you tell me about this new friend of yours?" He enquired jokingly, making Satsuki pout a little.

Truth be told she wasn't really the best with people – her family, again, being the exception – so even though she did like Naruto she found it hard to feel comfortable around him. This was why she insisted that they were rivals rather than friends, because she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable being any closer with him than they were. That wasn't to say she didn't have a superiority complex, because she did... but that wasn't the entire reason.

"Well... I didn't think it was that important." Satsuki answered, though she was lying a little. She was actually quite glad that Naruto seemed so damn invested in befriending her, even if she wasn't quite willing to give the same investment. Itachi smiled warmly at her, before poking her in the forehead – as was their 'thing'.

"Everything in your life is important to me, you know that." The Uchiha prodigy retorted jokingly, though he was dead serious at the same time. Satsuki was more important to him than anyone, maybe even his parents... though he had secretly began to dislike Fugaku – his father – due to all the pressure and expectations the man piled on him due to his prodigious skills.

"Right... sorry Nii-san." The young girl replied ashamedly, looking down to the ground. Itachi placed his finger beneath her chin and raised her head to face him before flashing her a smirk that made her shame dissolve. It was weird just how easily Itachi was able to do that, it was quite similar to Naruto in fact.

"No need to apologise, now come on... I believe I owe you some help with your training." Itachi stated knowingly, making Satsuki smile brightly before the two of them ran out, barely even having change to say goodbye to Mikoto before doing such.

_'Geez... those two are inseparable.'_ Mikoto thought to herself with a smirk, before going back to her duties. The best part of being a housewife was all the time you got to spend with your children and family, it was simply wonderful. Kushina still hated it though, since her energetic attitude made it hard for the woman to simply sit still, even if she did love the time she got to spend with Naruto.

* * *

As another productive day came to a close, Naruto got into his bed with his mother watching over him, before bidding him goodnight. He couldn't wait to enrol in the academy, it was only two years away from him now! He could taste the Shinobi techniques he'd have access to already, and maybe he could spend more time with Satsuki and make some other friends, that would be nice too.

So many things awaited him, and he couldn't wait to sink his teeth in.

**-****End-**

**Sorry if you are... unhappy with the level of detail I went into regarding Naruto and Satsuki's younger years, but I _really_ didn't want to waste a bunch of time on such inane details. I'm also aware Naruto and Satsuki _may_ have come off a little smarter than they should've been at the age of four, but if Itachi can look like he's an adult at the age of 13 – when the Uchiha Massacre occurred) – then I can do what I like! (Seriously, I think Kishi blundered a bit with that...)**

**So there we have it... the fallout of the birthing 'issues', Naruto and Satsuki's early years, some various hints and details. **

**Somewhat boring chapter, sorry!**

**Anyway... Review, Favourite and/or Follow. **

**LiamMorg. Out.**

**Ja Ne!**

***Suiton: Mizurappa means two things. #1 Water Release: Wild Water Wave. #2 Water Release: Water Trumpet. For reference, Suiton: Mizurappa(1) will always mean Wild Water Wave and (2) will always mean Water Trumpet.**

**Edit: Minor changes regarding affectionate suffixes, they always get me! *Shakes fist***


	3. Power for a Purpose

**I don't own Naruto... if I did I sure as hell wouldn't have turned the series into one big power struggle for 3 arcs straight.**

**I understand some of you are... upset by the fact that I claimed Naruto would not be learning Fūinjutsu. I apologise, but to be honest the red hair of the Uzumaki clan is the dominant trait, not Fūinjutsu. It was stated nowhere that all members had skill in the art. Canon Naruto attributes to this fact.**

_**'Throws hands up in defeat' **_**I give up! This is the best I could get out, and it was still late! Ugh... whatever.**

**EDIT: GOD DAMMIT! I did it _again!_ I keep forgetting to switch the full caps _TRANSITION!_'s for actual bloody transitions!**_  
_

_**Prologue Arc**_

_**Quote of the chapter/day: "Everyone can search for power; desire it; claim it, but for one to become truly powerful, they need a reason to wield it."**_

**Chapter 02: Power for a Purpose**

**-Last Chapter-**

_As another productive day came to a close, Naruto got into his bed with his mother watching over him, before bidding him goodnight. He couldn't wait to enrol in the academy, it was only two years away from him now! He could taste the Shinobi techniques he'd have access to already, and maybe he could spend more time with Satsuki and make some other friends, that would be nice too._

_So many things awaited him, and he couldn't wait to sink his teeth in. _

**-Start-**

It had been a while since Naruto and Satsuki's first meeting now, and Naruto had just turned five. He'd not had a spectacular party or anything, being more than happy to just spend it with family and what have you. Mikoto briefly came over to say hi, but Satsuki was apparently busy elsewhere. Naruto was a little disappointed, but otherwise understood.

Naruto had – over the course of the year – managed to crack through Satsuki's shell a little, to the point where she somewhat acknowledged them as friends. She still preferred to refer to them as rivals, but she was willing to swallow her pride when necessary. Naruto had also gotten closer to Mikoto, since the woman ended up spending time near him so often. She ended up becoming something of an unofficial godmother.

Naruto had managed to successfully mould his chakra after a while, though it took him longer than he would have liked. Minato and Kushina – along with Kakashi, whenever he wanted and Jiraiya whenever he was around – had begun to teach him basic chakra control exercises such as the leaf balancing exercise and the tree climbing exercise, which Kushina refused to let him actually do. Instead, he'd simply lay at the base of the tree with his feet touching it, before trying to get the mixture right and repeating until necessary.

A rather interesting event had happened while doing this, but Minato had once again refused to mention it and Naruto wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but it had all but confirmed Minato's once thought 'crazy theory'.

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

_Naruto and Minato were in the woods in between various training grounds, a place where Shinobi regularly undertook survival exercises and were tested on their tracking skills, either by someone hiding somewhere in the forest or by the release of a non-dangerous, but elusive animal. Minato had a lot more free time recently, and tried to make the best of it to bond or train his son. _

"_Alright Naruto, you know what to do, lay at the base of the tree and try to stick to it. We'll do this for a little while and then I'll give you something fun to do." Minato said with a warm smile, his hand atop Naruto's head. Naruto nodded and lay at the base of the tree, before closing his eyes and trying to stick to the tree. _

"_I still don't get why I'm doing this all the time... shouldn't I have it down by now?" Naruto said childishly, a small pout on his cute little face. Minato smirked at his son's attitude, knowing that Naruto wasn't exactly the most patient boy. It wasn't that he couldn't be patient, it was just that he made it abundantly clear he'd rather do something else._

"_It may seem like you're just doing the same thing over and over, but every time you do this you are getting more accustomed to the on-the-spot chakra manipulation required to stick to the tree properly, which in turn improves your chakra control. Trust me, it's a very useful exercise." The man urged, to while Naruto hummed in acknowledged. _

_After a few moments, Naruto began to ease up and the chakra flow at his feet seemed to increase. Minato narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows, using his sensory ability to check what was going on. To his amazement, he could feel Naruto's chakra within the tree... but that shouldn't have been happening, trees were filled with nature energy and chakra was a completely different source of energy. The two could not be mixed without being a Sage. _

_He opened his eyes and nearly dropped his jaw at what he saw. Naruto's feet had quite literally been absorbed into the tree, but it was causing Naruto no discomfort, nor was he even aware it was happening so he couldn't have been using a technique. _

_'So it is true...'_ _Minato thought to himself, before walking over and pulling Naruto back. The boy's feet then came free from the tree as though it was made of water, while Naruto opened his eyes with confusion. After a convenient white lie, the two left with one having very conflicted thoughts._

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

After the event, Minato had inexplicably been speeding up Naruto's training to the point where Kushina was becoming actively convinced that the man was worried for Naruto's safety. In a way she was right, but it wasn't because he was in danger now, but that his safety could be jeopardized after the secret came out.

Fortunately for Naruto, both Kakashi and Jiraiya were around at the current time, since Naruto's fifth birthday ensured the two would drop some duties to come and see him.

That was why the family of three, along with Kakashi, Jiraiya and – strangely enough – Hiruzen were all gathered at the Namikaze household. Since he was no longer the Hokage and was basically retired, Hiruzen found himself with a lot of free time so he occasional visited Naruto. The visits were either educational, casual or quick hello, goodbye arrangements.

Due to his age and skill, Hiruzen was able to do things very few Shinobi were capable of such as manipulating all five basic chakra natures, along with having masterful skill with most of the Shinobi arts.

"So, do you feel any older Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked warmly, his wrinkled and aged face showing the wear and tear of his long life while still maintaining the same life it usually did.

Naruto frowned for a moment, thinking it over. "Not really, I feel the same." He said normally. Hiruzen let out a little laugh, while Jiraiya and Minato just shot each other a look of amusement.

"Hah! Well just you wait until you're my age, you'll definitely feel it then." The old man replied, leaning back in his chair with a mirthful smile. Naruto hummed, wondering just how old the man was. It was probably rude to ask, so he didn't.

Jiraiya cleared his throat falsely to gather Naruto's attention, causing the boy to turn to him. "So Naruto, your Tou-san tells me that you're interested in Ninjutsu. Have you learned any techniques yet?" The man asked quizzically. Naruto shook his head, before grinning.

"Not yet, but I'll be mastering awesome techniques in no time!" Naruto shouted boisterously, making several people around the table either smile or roll their eyes with amusement.

"Not if I have anything to say about it..." Kushina muttered, making Minato laugh at her overprotective attitude. Honestly five years and she was still exactly the same, nobody could question her loyalty to Naruto and the boy's safety, that was for sure.

It had been a while since Kakashi had first shown Naruto the **Suiton: Mizurappa(1) **and Naruto had been even more ecstatic about learning Ninjutsu ever since. Sometimes Kushina wanted to strangle Kakashi for the action, but it _did_ keep Naruto in a good mood.

"Come on Kushina-chan, it won't hurt for him to learn something basic now will it?" Minato suggested convincingly. Kushina opened her mouth to speak, but quickly found that she had little to say in reply. Surrendering for now, she slumped down somewhat childishly and crossed her arms.

"Fine! But if something happens..." Kushina replied, leaving off the sentence eerily at the end while glaring at Minato. Even without chakra, she was still a _very_ scary woman when she wanted to be. Nodding violently, Minato stood up and walked out of the room while Jiraiya and Kakashi could be seen holding their breath. Once he was out of earshot, they both burst out laughing.

"Haha! Now I know why they call him the Yellow Flash, I think that's the fastest I've ever seen him move!" Jiraiya said through bouts of laughter. Even Hiruzen was having difficulty staying composed while Naruto just looked around with confusion.

"You guys are weird..." He muttered with confusion while Kushina giggled at him. Naruto was honest – sometimes to a fault – and it was often a source of entertainment.

Once the other occupants of the room had calmed down, they sat in silence for a few moments before Minato came back. He brought with him the same **Suiton **Ninjutsu scroll that he'd given Kakashi a while ago.

He threw the scroll to Kakashi before stopping. "I have things I need to do, so if you'd like to teach Naruto that technique you showed him, feel free." Minato stated, before disappearing. Kushina growled at where he once stood. _'Coward... he's afraid to face me.'_ She thought, before a small smile came to her face.

"Now Kakashi, will you be teaching him in the same place as last time?" Kushina asked calmly, as Kakashi nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah, I don't see any reason to change locations, that one is in good condition and is free of hazards as far as I know." He replied, but instantly felt a chill in the air. Realizing what he'd said, he quickly caught his tongue. "...I-I mean, it i-is free of hazards!" He confirmed, as the atmosphere got calm once more.

_'Kaa-san is scary...'_ Naruto thought to himself as Kakashi, Jiraiya and Hiruzen headed out with a small goodbye. He was a little confused as to why exactly his mother was keeping him, but he didn't exactly care.

Kushina quickly moved the two of them into the living room, where they sat down on a chair before Kushina proceeded to look at him strangely for a few seconds. Naruto tilted his head to the side cutely, not sure what was going on before his mother cleared her throat and looked at him.

"Naru-chan, you know your Tou-san and I love you very much, right?" Kushina said suddenly and with a very soft tone. Naruto felt himself grow a little concerned at the strange proclamation, since – while it was obviously normal for a parent to do so – such open admittances usually heralded problems.

"Of course Kaa-san, why?" Naruto asked as seriously as a five year old child could be. The woman smiled to herself, his innocence was truly a wonderful thing.

"I'm just... I'm worried about you." She replied, her tone not betraying her words. "...you seem so dead-set on becoming a Shinobi, which is fine! I'm just concerned you're... missing out on your childhood. You always get so happy whenever we talk about Shinobi techniques or Ninjutsu, or when I tell you some of your Tou-san's heroics... it's just scary to see you grow up so fast." She continued, while Naruto sat in silence. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to what he'd just been told, but he knew he wanted to say something.

"Kaa-san..." Naruto started, but before he could say anything he heard what sounded like sniffling coming from Kushina. He raised his head to see she had her own head lowered, while idly played around with some of her hair.

"I'm afraid you might think we would be disappointed if you weren't a Shinobi..." Kushina said, her voice breaking. "...and I'm afraid that, if you keep going like you are... you won't... need me anymore!" She cried out, and Naruto could evidently see some tears falling now.

Before she could even think about it, she felt a force hit against her. Opening her eyes, she saw Naruto hugging her tightly, looking upset himself. "I'll always need you, I love you Kaa-san. That's why I want to be a Shinobi so bad, so I can protect you... I'll never forget about you." Naruto said honestly, while Kushina's tears turned from sadness to joy.

She knew she was probably overreacting and if there had been anyone else around, she would have come off as a hysterical woman. She could accept that, but the confirmation she so desperately needed in her heart was now out in the open, she'd always have her baby.

"Thank you baby..." Kushina said quietly, before sniffling and wiping her eyes. "...I'm sorry, I've kept Kakashi waiting now... come on, let's go." She continued, as the two stood up and made their way to the door.

* * *

"What took you two so long? I've been standing here for at least twenty minutes." Kakashi said in a very bored tone, from a leaning position against one of the many trees located in the training ground. Kushina noticed the book in his hand and sighed, but at least he had something to do. Then she remembered something and scowled almost instantly.

"Hey, don't you lecture me on lateness!" Kushina spat irritably, while Kakashi laughed nervously, having been caught out on his hypocrisy.

Naruto looked back and forth between them, not quite sure what they were talking about. At his age, he hardly realized the importance of deadlines... nor did he take notice of Kakashi's serial lateness.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Kakashi purposed quickly, making Kushina calm down and nod with a small smile. She still didn't like this, but Naruto's assurance had eased her nerves somewhat. "...right, do you remember the seals Naruto?" He continued, as Naruto furrowed her brows and pursed his lips.

"No." Naruto answered, a little embarrassed by his forgetfulness. He didn't realize Kakashi had no interest if he remembered or not, it was simply a question to speed along the process. Kakashi then gave him an eye smile before continuing.

"Don't worry, it isn't a test. The seals are Dragon, Tiger, Hare. Here, let me give you a brief demonstration of what the hand seals actually look like." The silver-haired Jōnin stated, before very slowly going through each hand seal. It never occurred to anyone why learning the hand seals seemed so straight-forward, because they were actually quite awkward and complex in most cases.

They spent the next half an hour going through the seals, having Naruto try to replicate them as best he could and then attempt to use a few in random sequences, to adjust to the awkward hand movements and quick finger adjustments that should have taken weeks to get right. Kushina sat at Naruto's side, occasionally correcting his hand gestures and seals whenever he blundered. It was nice that she could still help, despite her chakra situation.

Speaking of the chakra situation, it was finally starting to look up. Her network was showing signs of significant recovery now, for the first time since Naruto's birth. The general hypothesis was that the birthing and removal of the Kyūbi in such a small time frame caused far more strain and damage than it should have, since a large portion of her chakra was being used to grow the child.

It was not openly known why pregnancy and childbirth was chakra intensive at all, but there were a few theories. The most well regarded was that the chakra of the mother was being used to quite literally build the chakra network of the child, which was why clan traits and bloodline limits were passed down almost flawlessly to children who possessed them. Another was that since chakra is a source of life, it was just being used to give life... but that seemed to happen regardless of a persons chakra strength, since some people (E.g. Rock Lee) had underdeveloped chakra networks and could still reproduce just fine.

But that was all unimportant right now... the important thing was that Kushina was estimated to be capable of shinobi duties once again within the next few years and she was now capable of low level chakra moulding and some techniques such as surface climbing and water walking, for a small amount of time at least.

"Right, have you got the seals down now?" Kakashi asked calmly. Despite the rather irritating activity that was teaching hand seals, Kakashi and Kushina were rather pleased to be doing so, since Naruto's working attitude and general personality made it hard to get annoyed from teaching him.

"I think so..." The red-haired boy stated slowly, still going through them a few more times to make sure. After his mother allowed him to go through them five times without interrupting, he assumed he had it down. "...OK! I got it!" He called out happily, while Kushina smiled warmly at his determination.

Kakashi eye smiled, tilting his head to the side. "Good! Now, since you know the seals and the technique all that's left is for you to try it out." He said cheerfully. Naruto nodded happily, as he stood up and walked over to the grassy clearing, since he could water the plants for a secondary task. It never really made much sense to him, but he felt a synergy with nature.

Steeling his expression and looking down at his hands, he went through the three seals required for the technique before gathering his chakra within himself and turning it to water, before readying himself to expel it. _**"Suiton: Mizurappa(1)!"**_He thought, as he spat out the torrent of water...

Well, he tried to. All that came out was a small stream of water, maybe enough to create a mild puddle. It had a decent level of velocity to it, but not really enough to cause any sort of injury upon being slammed by it. Kakashi tapped his back comfortingly as he saw Naruto's disappointed expression, since this was how Ninjutsu training generally started.

"Now now, don't look so glum. This is a mere part of the learning process, over time you'll get more adjusted to the mixture and be able to create the required volume of water." The man said wisely, though he quickly noticed Naruto looked very confused.

"What?" Naruto said slowly, his cute confusion evident in his tone. Kakashi mentally sighed, realising that his intellectual response was somewhat wasted on a five year old, no matter how talented he believed that five year old to be.

"This is the start of the technique, it'll get bigger and better as you train and adapt." The man restated in a more simplistic method. Naruto's eyes brightened slightly as he realized what Kakashi was saying, since he was doing nothing wrong.

Nodding cheerfully, Naruto went through the signs again. The results were mostly the same, but he was a determined young boy and was hardly thinking of giving up anytime soon. At least it wasn't the **Rasengan**, where you couldn't even see the results until it was almost completely finished.

"Naru-chan, keep in mind that nobody expects you to finish this today. Elemental Ninjutsu are quite hard to get down compared to basic ones, so pace yourself... overexerting yourself won't benefit anyone." Kushina stated warningly, to which Naruto quickly agreed. It wouldn't help him to be out of it for a few days because he exhausted himself.

Going back to his training, Naruto had a rather interesting thought which – for reasons he didn't quite understand – brought a small rise in temperature to his cheeks and a smile to his face.

_'Maybe I can impress Satsuki with this?'_

* * *

Earlier that day, events were spiralling within the Uchiha district too. To be more specific, in the home of Satsuki. Satsuki had just awoken and her mother was out shopping while her brother was... elsewhere. Itachi seemed to just disappear these days, as he was thinking of joining the ANBU and such things were difficult to do at his age.

"Good morning Tou-san." Satsuki said cheerfully, as was her usual attitude at home. Fugaku lowered the newspaper he was reading and looked over at her. While it was somewhat discrete and hidden, she could recognise the look in his eye, he had been hoping to see Itachi. The thought made her clench her fist somewhat, but she didn't change her expression.

"Ah Satsuki, yes. Good morning." Fugaku replied calmly, his face unchanging. Fugaku was a serious fellow, never really smiling or getting angry unless it was necessary. He also had high expectations, and for that reason he was very focused with Itachi.

Satsuki and her father's relationship was a strange one. Nobody could outright state that either of them disliked the other in the slightest, because they both loved the other dearly and cared for them. The problem was Fugaku's lack of interest in Satsuki from a Shinobi standpoint, and Satsuki's desire to be acknowledged for herself.

Satsuki briefly walked out of the room after a small bow. She went straight to the kitchen to make some toast, get a small drink and an apple – Shinobi needed to be healthy, after all – before walking back into the room and sitting across from her father.

The two sat in silence as Satsuki ate, and Fugaku read his newspaper. Satsuki would have described the atmosphere as 'awkward', while Fugaku didn't realize there WAS an 'atmosphere' about the room, other than a calm one.

After a lengthy silence, Satsuki decided to break it as it was becoming rather unbearable. "Tou-san... I was wondering, could you help me with my training later?" She asked politely, trying to hide the hope in her tone. Fugaku lowered his paper and placed it to the side, before narrowing his eyes at her curiously.

"Aren't you a little young for accelerated training?" Fugaku asked sternly, as was his average demeanour. Satsuki somewhat shrivelled under his hard gaze and strong question, but swallowed her nervousness – to some degree.

"Itachi-nii-san was learning things at my age..." Satsuki answered in an attempt to seem logical, though it came out a little meek. Fugaku shook his head with a neutral expression, obviously finding her argument to be unimpressive.

The thing with Fugaku was simple, he considered Itachi to be a great prodigy the likes the clan had never seen since Madara Uchiha himself. The village was strong under the leadership of the Yondaime, and he was doing everything he could to make the clan stronger in his wake. Itachi was his ace in the hole; the prodigy that would lead the clan to greatness. For that reason, his focus was on Itachi alone, to the point where he didn't realize he was shunning his daughter.

"What exactly is your reason for wanting to be strong, Satsuki?" Fugaku asked with curiosity. Satsuki lowered her head, closing her eyes in thought. She had a few reasons, the first and most prevalent to be impressing her father and getting him to acknowledge her, but what was her deeper reason?

"I... I want to do right by the clan, to show the world our power and potential!" Satsuki said with volume and passion. She briefly saw something in her father's eyes that she wasn't exactly familiar with. It almost looked like... pride.

"That is an admirable goal..." Fugaku started, a small smile on his face. "...but you needn't do so, Itachi is already doing just that." He continued, the smile having now vanished. Satsuki wanted to pull her hair out at that moment, she was getting pretty frustrated with _this_!

She sighed almost inaudibly, not bothering to hide her disappointment. Fugaku barely noticed, turning back to his paper and raising it in front of him once more. Satsuki clenched her fist once more and grit her teeth, a quiet growl escaping her lips. She poked her tongue out at the man childishly before storming out of the room.

Lowering his paper, Fugaku arched a brow. "What's wrong with her?"

* * *

Slamming her bedroom door closed – not caring in the slightest in anyone saw her do so – Satsuki allowed herself to slide down its face. A small sniffle escaped her lips as a tear ran down her face, accompanied by a few of it's brethren. She lowered her head and grit her teeth once more, feeling absolutely furious and yet heart broken all at once.

"What do I have to do...? I just want him to acknowledge me like Nii-san..." She muttered lowly through a few small sobs and sniffles. This wasn't exactly like her, she was hardly the type to weep over any small thing, but her mental fortitude was waning in regards to her father.

She sat there for a while longer, not paying attention to the rest of the world. She thought about her Shinobi career, and if her father would ever care if she even succeeded in it... it was starting to look very unlikely that he would. She could never blame Itachi – despite him being the source of her troubles – because he was far too good to her.

A knock on the door made the young girl jump in surprise, as she wiped her eyes as quickly as she could. "W-who is it?" She asked quickly, as normally as she could. Behind the door, Itachi furrowed his brows in confusion, he wasn't considered a prodigy for nothing and he could somewhat make out the distress. Pretending to be oblivious, he smiled to get his mind in gear.

"Take a guess, Satsuki-chan." Itachi said warmly, patting himself on the back for the good acting. Satsuki shuffled to her feet carefully, in an attempt to avoid the 'why were you against the door' question. Opening the door as calmly as she could, she flashed a small smile seeing Itachi in front of her.

"Hey Nii-san, what's up?" Satsuki asked cautiously. Little did she know that her curiosity made the situation all the more obvious for Itachi. Usually she was happy to see him, or generally normal with him. Not once had she started with asking what was up.

Not giving an exact answer, Itachi pulled her arm out of way and walked into her room. Satsuki pursed her lips slightly as she realized he was onto her, he was always good with reading situations. When he lightly brought her into the room, kicking the door closed she knew she was in for an unwanted conversation.

"What's wrong Satsuki-chan?" Itachi asked calmly, but with concern in his strong voice. Satsuki debated whether to lie, tell the truth or avoid the question, but ultimately it wouldn't make a difference since Itachi was really good at this kind of thing. He _would_ get the answer out of her, one way or another.

"I can't ever get Tou-san to acknowledge me." She replied sadly, completely missing a small twitch in her brother's face. Itachi lowly growled at the mention, but quickly changed his expression to a more neutral one.

"You shouldn't be so concerned with Tou-san's favour... you can be strong without it, you don't need his approval." The older sibling said with a surprising level of coldness. Satsuki gaped at the statement, not sure what Itachi was getting at. He always had Fugaku's attention, so why did he have such a strong opinion?

"Is... is something going on between you and Tou-san." The girl asked concernedly, making Itachi briefly frown at her. He quickly switched his expression to a comforting smile, poking her in the forehead and arching his eyebrows.

"It isn't important, we're just having a small disagreement about something." He replied assuringly, though Satsuki narrowed her eyes at him, his tone not carrying the usual strength that she was accustomed with. She had somewhat noticed that Itachi always seemed a little tense around their father, but thought nothing of it.

The more she thought of it, the more it became obvious to her that their family had a few strained relationships. Itachi's constant absence would cause Mikoto to worry, Itachi apparently didn't get along well with Fugaku and her father barely paid notice to her. The only fully functional relationships were between her and Itachi and Mikoto.

"Nii-san, could you teach me something... maybe some Ninjutsu?" Satsuki asked, shifting topics suddenly and making Itachi look at her with interest. It wasn't that he disagreed with her learning attitude, since he completely understood the concept of wanting to be strong while young, but he needed her opinion.

"Why?" Itachi retorted quickly. Satsuki looked at him oddly, unsure what he was getting at. It was quite obvious why she needed help, wasn't it? Fugaku was kinda being difficult and she had to learn from somewhere!

"If Tou-san won't help me with my training, I need to get strong another way!" The girl answered, thinking it was the most obvious question ever. Itachi frowned slightly, since that wasn't what he was getting at. _'Oh well, it'll suffice.'_ The elder Uchiha sibling thought to himself being lightly brushing his hand through his black hair.

"So be it... come on, I'll show you something that'll be invaluable to you later in your career..." Itachi stated comfortingly, before his face evened out. "...though I'm warning you now, after I show it to you I'll be expecting you to perfect it yourself, I don't have time to be training you full time... no offence." He asserted strongly, making Satsuki smile and shrug somewhat.

"None taken, and thanks Nii-san."

* * *

On the small pier in the Uchiha district that overlooked a reservoir/lake, Itachi and Satsuki were just coming up to its edge. Satsuki and Itachi had chatted on the way over about Itachi's Shinobi career and Satsuki's inevitable enrolment into the academy. Suffice to say Itachi was impressed with her resolve, but her reasons were questionable.

"So tell me, this Naruto boy you've been bonding with over the past year... what's he like?" Itachi asked casually, interested in what kind of person Satsuki's only real 'friend' was. Satsuki – to his surprise – let a small but genuine smile rise to her face as the question was posed, and he could somewhat tell where this was going.

"He's... interesting. He's always happy and determined, and he's got as much potential as I do..." The girl replied happily, making Itachi chuckle lowly. It seemed Satsuki was a little smitten with the boy. "...the weirdest thing is that he never lets his family or clan define him, he always seeks his own power." She continued with confusion written on her face. Itachi smiled, pleased with the description.

"He sounds like a keeper." The boy replied jokingly, though Satsuki had no idea what he meant. Honestly, all these stupid jokes were lost on children as young as Naruto and Satsuki.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Satsuki asked fiercely, not being one to take an insult lying down – whether she understood it or not – and certainly not one to completely ignore one.

"Nothing at all..." Itachi muttered with contentment, flashing Satsuki an amused smile with a raised eyebrow. Satsuki's potential anger quickly dissolved at that, as – like Naruto – his smile quickly forced its way onto her own face.

The two came to a stop at the end of the pier, as Satsuki looked over at the large expanse of water. She wasn't exactly sure what Itachi had come to teach her, but with a large amount of water the options were severely limited._ 'Maybe water walking? No, that's not Ninjutsu... Water Ninjutsu? No, I doubt I have a water affinity and even if I did, Itachi wouldn't guess it... that leaves...'_

"Are you teaching me the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu ****(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**?" Satsuki asked excitedly. She knew of the technique, and how the Uchiha clan used it as a 'rite of passage', to prove their strength and potential as Shinobi. Her father would have to acknowledge her if she learned it!

Itachi ruffled Satsuki's hair affectionately as he smiled at her. "That's my clever Imōto (Little Sister), as always you are correct." He said happily. Satsuki gained a confident smirk at the praise, always being one to overreact when she was praised. Maybe it was her Uchiha blood, but her hubris was greater than most five year old children by a great deal.

Itachi then poked Satsuki's forehead – in order to get her attention – before placing his hand in the Uma (Horse) seal. Satsuki watched carefully as Itachi went through the seals with ease.

"Uma, Tora (Tiger), Mi (Snake), Hitsuji (Ram), Saru (Monkey), I (Boar), Uma, Tora. **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**!" Itachi said with a slow pace and yet great grace all at once, before calling out the technique loudly before breathing in – causing his chest to bulge noticeably – and breathing out a round spherical shape composed of pure fire.

Satsuki's jaw almost literally dropped at the small sea of fire that Itachi was able to form with a simple C-Rank **Katon** Ninjutsu. It definitely went to show that Itachi _WAS _indeed a prodigy like few others. Itachi's skill with Ninjutsu was hardly his greatest strength either, since his sharp mind, analytical and perceptive skills were simply brilliant.

"Well... there it is, feel free to practice with it. I'll give you a tip though, don't try storing up too much fire natured chakra within you to begin with, it can badly burn you internally." Itachi said, before placing a hand on her shoulder and walking past her back along the pier.

Satsuki briefly frowned from his absence, before a smirk rose to her face once more. She would master the technique, she would prove her superiority over others her age and she would reveal her talents to the world. She was an Uchiha, and she was determined to show everyone just how big a deal that was.

Satsuki closed her eyes in concentration as she recollected the hand seals that Itachi had listed to her. Going through them slowly – and with a noticeable level of difficulty in regards to getting them right – she focused her chakra carefully and turned it into **Katon **chakra, before breathing in carefully.

"_**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"**_ She mentally exclaimed, not quite sure how Itachi managed to call out his own technique with his mouth literally filled with fire. A small stream of fire emerged from her mouth, before aggregating into a very... modest... fireball. After Satsuki ran out of breath (and fire) she stopped exhaling, before leaning down and panting harshly. The whole 'extended breathing' thing would be hard to get used to...

"Ah, it's not... big enough... not even... close..." Satsuki panted out, a bead of sweat rolling down her face from the heat of the fireball. There was obviously some sort of trick to getting used to the breathing and the heat, but that was a problem for another time. "...I will get this... down." She continued, going through the seals again.

Everyone had to start somewhere, even the Uchiha.

* * *

A week passed with Satsuki and Naruto continuing to train in their techniques, all the while completely oblivious to the struggles of the other. They may not have realised it, but their rivalry was somehow budding without any sort of intervention from either of then; both were learning C-Rank elemental Ninjutsu at the same time.

Satsuki was currently in the midst of one of her favourite pass times of all: walking through the woods. It may have seemed somewhat strange for a five year old girl – who was quite obsessed with strength and power – to have such a benign and peaceful hobby, but Satsuki didn't take the time to notice the irony.

While she had spent the week in difficult training – which had resulted in some burns and exhaustion, much to Mikoto's annoyance – she was feeling pretty good about the technique now, so she was taking some time to herself. While continuing her walk, she heard running water... but not in the usual sense. It sounded louder, faster and more sudden than it should've been.

"What is that noise?" She muttered to herself, furrowing her brows and walking with newfound speed towards the source of the noise. After a few minutes and a decent level of irritation in regards to where the hell the noise was, she stumbled upon a clearing with a very familiar red-head near the centre.

_'Naruto? What's he doing here?'_ She thought to herself, leaning around a tree to avoid being seen or heard by him. She wasn't aware of why she seemed so apprehensive to walk out into the clearing, but it just seemed difficult. In some small part of her, she wanted to watch him; to see what he was doing out here.

"**Suiton: Mizurappa!" **Naruto exclaimed from a distance, before blowing out a thick stream of water that was significantly larger and more powerful the one he had originally created. It seemed as though his technique was quite close to being completed as well. Satsuki looked on with interest, unsure of her rival's full skill.

_'Hmm... let's test him.'_ Satsuki thought with an almost cruel smirk. She discretely went through the hand seals Itachi had shown her, before breathing in deeply and bursting through the clearing. _**'Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!'**_She called out mentally, before exhaling the ball of flames towards Naruto. The boy quickly spun around and widened his eyes at the large fireball approaching him.

_'Crap, I can't dodge that!'_ Naruto exclaimed mentally, as his young mind whirled. Coming to a simple conclusion, he slowly went through three signs before leaning back slightly, building chakra within his gut. He then proceeded to expel another thick stream of water, quickly coming into contact with the fireball and cancelling it out.

Naruto exhaled in relief, before getting into a somewhat battle-ready stance, since someone obviously attempted to attack him with that fireball. From her spot behind the smoke that had formed from the doused fireball, Satsuki was wearing an impressed smirk. Naruto had definitely passed her little test, so she was pleased... for now.

She walked forward at a controlled pace, attempting to walk through the smoke. She was stopped when a strong _thing_ slammed into her and drove her to the ground. She blinked wildly, trying to see through the smoke and the slight concussion from hitting the ground, before finally realizing that she'd been tackled by a red-haired boy.

"S-Satsuki?! What... what are you doing here?" Naruto stuttered out quickly, blushing noticeably from their compromising position. Satsuki forced down her anger – since this situation was her fault – before looking up him with a cocky smirk.

"Easy there cowboy, I was just testing you." Satsuki replied teasingly, pushing up on Naruto's arms to get him off her. Naruto allowed himself to be pushed into a sitting position as Satsuki began to stand up, before she grabbed his own hand and pulled him up, once more missing his blush. Brushing himself off, Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"So... you shot the fireball at me?" He said, obviously knowing the answer. Satsuki nodded nonchalantly, making Naruto roll his eyes. "...you realize you could have seriously hurt me, right?" He continued, as Satsuki smirked once more. He was hardly fit to be her rival if he couldn't use his tools to protect himself, and Ninjutsu was a large tool.

"Well I didn't, and I felt like seeing how good you'd gotten." She stated as though it were obvious. Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he opened his mouth to reply, before simply closing it and throwing a hand out in defeat. He couldn't be bothered to argue with the girl right now... and he'd prefer not to argue with her at all.

It was safe to say that the two were able to function together quite well, even if Satsuki had a problem ever being concerned for him or his feelings, since she wasn't built to do so. Then there was the fact that – despite acknowledging them as friends – she hardly acted like it, more of acquaintances or allies.

The relationship was still weird, with Satsuki being a clear Shinobi-focused girl who simply wanted to be perceived as strong, while Naruto just wanted to enjoy life and friendships. Some would question how the two got along at all, but they still managed it.

"So, how good _am_ I?" Naruto asked with clear amusement. Satsuki looked at him strangely, not sure what he was getting at, but decided to indulge him nonetheless.

"You're definitely strong for your age... not as strong as me, but y'know..." Satsuki replied nonchalantly once more. For some reason, rather than annoying Naruto or perturbing him, it made him flash a smile that could be perceived as one that would accompany a challenge.

"Oh really? Aren't you confident..." The red-head replied jokingly, before grinning foxily. "...you want to put your theory to the test?" He challenged confidently. Satsuki raised her eyebrows at the question since she'd never gotten a challenge from him, nor did she pressure him for one... mostly because she didn't deem him worth it up until now.

"Maybe another time, I'd hate to wipe the floor with you right after interrupting your training." The onyx-eyed girl retorted with a smirk, closing her eyes and crossing her arms to appear superior. Naruto huffed light-heartedly, believing that she was chickening out, but not wanting to pressure her either.

After a brief catching-up and chat, Satsuki wandered off back into the forest to continue the walk he'd inadvertently interrupted. Naruto smiled happily at the encounter, knowing that he'd somewhat gotten through to her.

"Until next time, Satsuki..."

**-****End-**

**Aww... Kushina's crazy. I mean... concerned? Screw it, think of that as you will. To be honest I thought I forced that moment a little, though I feel a child pursuing a life as a Shinobi is akin to a teenager-turned adult turning to the military. On another note: Fugaku's an asshole!**

**So, since I slaved over this like a hot stove to get it out [late], I think I deserve some nice reviews this week... nah, it's up to you guys – as usual – but it would definitely help my ego. **

**Anyway... Review, Favourite and/or Follow. **

**LiamMorg. Out.**

**Ja Ne!**


	4. It Begins

**-Guest Reviews-**

**Guest: Naruto is hardly addicted to Satsuki, he's five and generally friendly. Satsuki is his main friend, he wants to get close to her. That's it... for now.**

**Guest(2): The Uzumaki _were_ prodigies at Fūinjutsu, but that is a generalisation of the clan. Just like some Uchiha do not awaken the Sharingan, Naruto is not good at Fūinjutsu, simple as that.**

* * *

**I don't own Naruto... if I did, there wouldn't be so many feels... probably less character deaths too. I'm not good with that kinda thing... or am I?**

**The only excuse for my lateness is laziness. I probably could have gotten this done by Wednesday.**

**Blah blah blah, praise the sun, blah blah blah.**

_**Pre-Shinobi Arc**_

**Chapter 03: It Begins **

**-Last Chapter-**

"_Oh really? Aren't you confident..." The red-head replied jokingly, before grinning foxily. "...you want to put your theory to the test?" He challenged confidently. Satsuki raised her eyebrows at the question, having never gotten a challenge from him, nor did she pressure him for one, not deeming him worth it up until now. _

"_Maybe another time, I'd hate to wipe the floor with you right interrupting your training." The onyx-eyed girl retorted with a smirk, closing her eyes and crossing her arms to appear superior. Naruto huffed light-heartedly, believing that she was chickening out, but not wanting to pressure her either. _

_After a brief catching-up and chat, Satsuki wandered off back into the forest to continue the walk he'd inadvertently interrupted. Naruto smiled happily at the encounter, knowing that he'd somewhat gotten through to her. _

"_Until next time, Satsuki..." _

**-Start-**

After their accidental training encounter, Satsuki had started to take Naruto seriously as a rival and a – though she wouldn't admit it, - friend. They regularly met up in the place they met to train together, not that many people knew about it. Naruto wanted to keep it a thing between them, since in his mind it represented a show of trust. Satsuki believed it may be frowned upon to fraternise with another clan, so she kept it hidden for the most part.

In the Uchiha district she had been 'convinced' by Itachi to spill the beans about where she kept wandering off to...

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

_Satsuki was wandering through the woods after a small training session with Naruto, and he continued to both impress and slightly irritate her with his skill. She was a very prideful person – like the general Uchiha – and the constant reminder that Naruto was just as good as she was... was actually not as annoying as she thought. _

_It was actually a little comforting to have someone to compete with and be able to compare yourself to, since being on your own level tended to get very boring. Sure it'd be fun to start with, but the lack of a challenge would eventually get tiresome, though she'd hardly be happy if he hadn't been from a strong lineage as well. She still had her pride!_

_Discretely sneaking back into the Uchiha district, Satsuki casually walked through the streets while taking in the sights as usual. It was a massive place really, though it was almost never full. It was probably only as big as it was because the founders of the village didn't want to risk it ever overfilling. _

_She creeped into her house and saw nobody at home, so she smirked and walked towards her room before she heard something she didn't want to. _

"_Back so soon, Satsuki-chan?" _

_Satsuki froze mid step, with an expression that all but screamed 'caught in the act'. She sighed and turned around slowly to see Itachi sitting... on the roof... with a large smirk. Satsuki felt the urge to throw something at him for tricking her with a technique she didn't know, but that would hardly get her out of her predicament. _

_He then promptly detached himself from the roof and quickly spun himself to land in an elegant crouch, holding the position for a moment for no reason other than to annoy Satsuki. The girl rolled her eyes at the action, but the small smirk on her face revealed that she was amused by it. _

"_So, where were you sneaking off to at this hour? You usually ask me to help you with your training around now, but recently you've been strangely absent."Itachi stated factly. Satsuki could tell he knew more than he let on, since he always did... but his lack of openly saying saying it made it infinitely more difficult to ascertain his knowledge._

"_Oh you know, I've just been wandering around the Uchiha district" Satsuki stated convincingly, but she noticed Itachi had his **Sharingan **active, which obviously made lying harder because it could be used to see the smallest traces of body language. _

_Itachi – at a very slow, almost agonizing pace – started walking towards Satsuki with a very sharp expression. Satsuki felt the need to retract her eyes from his gaze, since he was very imposing when he looked at her like that, despite his otherwise unimposing demeanor. _

"_We can do this the easy way... or the hard way." Itachi said with an almost fearsome level of severity. Satsuki merely crossed her arms and looked away from him in defiance of the action, but that was exactly what he wanted. "...hard way it is!" He said, the severity being replaced by a devious smirk._

_Satsuki briefly wondered what he was implying, but then he started doing something she would never guessed. It was her secret weakness..._

_...tickling. _

"_I-ITACH-I! S-STOP!" Satsuki shrieked while laughing, trying her hardest to worm her way out of his firm grasp so the torture would stop. Itachi's smirk broadened, not caring in the slightest about her pleading. It was so amusing being the elder sibling..._

"_Not until you spill." Itachi teased. Satsuki growled as best as she could from her position – which included violent writhing and uncontrollable laughing. "...this will only get worse as you resist Satsuki-chan..." He advised. After a few moments more of her being teased relentlessly, she finally broke. _

"_Haa... E-eno...enough! I'll tell you!" She shouted, and soon enough she found the sweet ability to breath again. Breathing in deeply, she tried to slap Itachi for being such an ass, but he swiftly grabbed her wrist and shook his head with amusement._

_She gathered her thoughts – her mind being somewhat clouded after wasting so much oxygen on relentless laughing – before simply glaring at Itachi._

"_I've been training with Naruto." Satsuki admitted quietly. Itachi arched a brow at the answer, not entirely sure why she seemed ashamed. He could only assume the deep rooted mindset of the Uchiha clan made her believe that using her own means to gain strength was 'wrong'._

"_Good!" Itachi answered quickly, making Satsuki pause momentarily before turning towards him with puzzlement, he brows furrowed, her head tilted and her eyes narrowed. "...I think its great that you aren't relying on the power of the Uchiha to get you through life." _

_Satsuki pursed her lips in uncertainty. She knew Itachi was strong, and he always had been, but he always seemed to imply – whether forwardly or discretely – that the Uchiha clan's ways were wrong. She was starting to think he had a problem with the clan in general, but there really wasn't any evidence to prove that. _

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

...and as normal he was very supportive of her training with somebody outside the clan. The Uchiha always were to proud to admit that anyone outside the clan was capable of helping them get stronger, so he encouraged it.

Kakashi had actually gone looking for Naruto and – due to his keen senses – was able to find the two in the act. Naturally he had begun to tease Naruto about his 'secret getaways' with the young girl. Naruto had obviously gotten quite annoyed of that on a regular basis, but Kakashi didn't actually seem to care.

After she learned the** Katon: G****ō****kaky****ū**** no Jutsu** the mere age of five, Fugaku starting paying much more attention to Satsuki, and she was definitely enjoying it. It was a little strange that he mentioned something about her not following after Itachi, but that was that.

So, the two were now in the usual training ground and were just about finishing their session. To Naruto's credit, he would never go easy on Satsuki, though they hadn't properly sparred yet. They mostly tested their moves on the other, slowing their attacks and lessening the force considerably, so that they could get an idea of how to overcome their flaws.

"**Suiton: Mizurappa!" **

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" **

These were the shouts of the two youths, as they regularly attempted to get the edge on the other by overpowering their rival's technique. So far – and to Satsuki's dismay – they had evened out on every test, with neither being able to get headway on the other. The same result was achieved this time around, and Satsuki instantly let out a small whine.

"Argh, why can't I beat you?" Satsuki muttered irritably, pinching the bridge of her nose. Naruto shrugged with a smirk, before brushing some obstructing red hair out of his vision. Satsuki had regularly commented on how weird his hair was, being spiky in places and straight in others, but he didn't care. He liked it, and she even agreed that it suited him.

His hair went down to around the jawline on the sides, mid-way down the neck and hung clumsily over his face. It was surprising that – despite having to move it out of his way quite often – the front did not impair his perception at all.

"Maybe because I'm awesome?" Naruto retorted, making Satsuki shake her head and roll her eyes. Her mid-length ponytail swayed from the action, which was something Naruto secretly found to be quite interesting. It wasn't interesting on its own, but the fact that she had a ponytail – which was surprisingly uncommon for a five year old – made it interesting. Her hair was still lengthy on the sides and side-swept on the front.

Her hair was quite thick for her age, falling to her mid neck on the sides and – without sweeping it to the side, - the front would probably fall halfway over her eyes. It maintained its spikiness, despite the ponytail, which was a rather odd sight.

"Oh you're so modest... idiot." Satsuki retorted dryly, causing Naruto to deflate somewhat before shaking his head and regaining his smile. He walked over to the treeline and picked up a small bottle of water and a rag, since they tended to train for at least a few hours and as such would get a little sweaty.

Both paused as it began to rain lightly, before the severity of it picked up. It was uncommon for it to rain in Konoha – and almost an urban legend for it to snow – so naturally the two didn't often plan for it. Satsuki looked over at Naruto and narrowed her eyes. Shrugging and walking over to him, she lightly poked his shoulder – something she'd unintentionally taken from Itachi, to some degree.

He turned to her calmly, but with an inviting expression as per usual. He would almost always be smiling, and if he wasn't he'd have a mostly straight face. It was just plain hard to get him down, so to speak.

"Your house is further than mine, you can ride out the rain there if you want." Satsuki proposed. Naruto smiled at the offer, before a small thought popped into his head. _'Have I really never been in her house? Huh... that's weird.'_ The red-head thought to himself, before shaking himself out of his self-induced stupor.

"Uh, yeah that'd be great. Thanks 'Suki." Naruto replied, using his rather unimaginative nickname for her. For some reason, he insisted on thinking up nicknames for everyone... and the memory of the time he called Kakashi 'Cyclops' was still making people laugh.

Satsuki scowled at the nickname, it implied something she wasn't comfortable with: contentment. Sure, she and Naruto got along pretty well and would regularly talk and train together in these sessions, but it made her feel awkward for him to use terms that implied he thought they were closer than she thought they were.

"Stop calling me that..." Satsuki snapped. The resultant effect on Naruto for some reason made her feel bad; the dropping of the smile and the general deflation as though he thought he'd offended her struck a cord within her. Swallowing her pride, she thought of a solution. "...Naru." She continued, trying not to sound uncomfortable saying the name.

Naruto's smile slowly returned in force as he tilted his head at her and narrowed his eyes, almost like a dog pleased with its master. The thought of Naruto as her pet for some reason made her cheeks warm up, but she quickly shook her head to erase the strange sensation. Naruto furrowed his brows at the almost ghostly pink tinge that ever so briefly invaded her cheeks, but quickly settled for ignoring it. It seemed like all girls did it, like his Kaa-san towards his Tou-san, for example.

_'Girls are weird.'_ He concluded.

* * *

The two youths were walking through the forest surrounding the training ground to avoid as much of the rain as possible. It was strange to see such a rainstorm start so quickly, and with such little warning. Naruto was looking around warmly, as though he was looking at something he deeply appreciated, while Satsuki watched him curiously.

"What are you doing?" Satsuki asked suddenly, making him turn his attention to her with a 'hm?'. She raised a single eyebrow at him with a smirk on her face. "...I said, what are you doing? You've been looking around like a window shopper for the last five minutes." She stated knowingly. Naruto blinked repeatedly from the allegation before falling silent...

...It was weird to see Naruto fall silent, that was for sure. Satsuki almost laughed at the concentrated look on his face, because she truly didn't understand why he was having so much difficulty answering the question.

"I'm uh... not sure." He replied honestly, turning to see the amused and yet baffled look on her face. "...I'm not sure how to explain it... I just... like nature." The statement made Satsuki look at him funny, either he was crazy or he was pulling her leg, but that couldn't be proved right now. She settled for a light-hearted huff before crossing her arms.

"Whatever idiot... I already knew you were a bit stupid, but I guess your crazy too." She retorted teasingly, with that oh-so-infamous smirk that said she was the winner. Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but a large droplet of water fell from the leaf of a tree and landed right on his head.

He groaned and wiped the water off while Satsuki chuckled at his misfortune. After wiping the majority of it off – and having his hair look basically the same despite the wetness – he went back to glaring at Satsuki.

"Hey! I'm not stupid!" He defended, while Satsuki just kept smirking at him smugly. He tried to think of a witty retort, but found none. "...just... whatever. Think whatever you want, but I'll just end up winning from you underestimating me." He continued cleverly, knowing that claiming he won was a sure-shot way of getting her attention.

Satsuki snorted derisively, not taking the threat seriously on the outside. She did consider him a fair rival, and she acknowledged his skill as being around the same level as her own, but that didn't mean she had to degrade herself to admitting it. What was she, crazy?

"In your dreams idiot, we both know you can't beat me." The onyx-eyed girl said with certainty. Naruto shook his head at her, though he somewhat agreed with her. They were both roughly the same in terms of skill, but winning an argument with Satsuki was an exercise in futility. She just wouldn't let the smallest detail escape her!

"That remains to be seen..." Naruto muttered non-committally. Then he had a thought. "...speaking of which, we start the academy soon, right?" He queried inquisitively.

Satsuki's eyes widened ever so slightly from the proclamation, since – in all honesty – she'd completely forgotten about that. Surely somebody should have reminded her by now, it was getting pretty close, a couple of months at most.

"You're right..." She muttered in response, before a genuine smile crossed her face. "...then we can see who's really better." The level of cheer in her voice was almost worrying to Naruto, since he didn't want to know what she was planning. Still, it couldn't have been too bad... right?

Regardless of his worry, Naruto still nodded with his own smile. It was always refreshing to be around Satsuki, she just made his life just a little more interesting. Maybe it was the conflicting and yet functional personalities they had, but everything seemed more entertaining with her involved.

"I just hope we're in the same classes..." Satsuki said effortlessly, making Naruto widen his eyes. Such public statements that she actually liked being around him were few and far be- "...I mean, who else can keep up with me?" Aaaand it was gone. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Right." Naruto drawled out humourlessly, getting a weird look from Satsuki, but he shrugged it off.

"We're getting close." Satsuki said, as the treeline because to thin and there were obvious lights visible through the harsh rain. Naruto looked at the district and whistled, it was bigger than he imagined. He would _definitely_ get lost without Satsuki's guidance.

"So, mad dash to the house?" Naruto suggested, while Satsuki shook her head.

"You know statistically you'll get just as wet like that." She replied, in her usual superior and yet helpful way. She let out a smug huff, before opening her eyes when she didn't get a response.

She quickly realized that while her eyes were closed to put on the oh-so-important air of superiority, Naruto had already taken off running.

"He's impossible." Satsuki muttered to herself, though the smile on her face said otherwise. She then took off running after him, with most people looking at her strangely...

...None of them had ever seen such a content smile on her face.

* * *

Ducking quickly inside Satsuki's house, Naruto laughed happily from the run, since she'd been shouting after him the whole time. It didn't occur to him that he didn't know where he was going, but fortunately she was a little faster than he was, so eventually she was able to catch up.

"With all the wrong turns you made, it would have been _much _faster to walk!" Satsuki snarled at Naruto, now pretty damn wet. _'Why do I get the feeling that someone could misinterpret that?' _She thought to herself curiously, before centring her gaze back on Naruto.

"Haha, I guess I got a little ahead of myself." Naruto said apologetically, ruffling the back of his hair instinctively. Satsuki further narrowed her eyes at the boy, not exactly pleased with the answer.

"A little!?" She questioned heatedly, making Naruto's smile turn nervous as he was sure she was about to start wailing on him. Sure, he was wet too, but he didn't actually care too much. Maybe it was the **Suiton** affinity, but a little dampness never irritated him in the slightest.

"...Alright I got way ahead of myself, but its not that big a deal!" The red-head affirmed, raising his hands in a placating gesture. Satsuki continued to glare at him for a few moments, while squeezing her ponytail between her hands to reduce the dampness.

While the two were bickering, they didn't notice the new presence within the room watching them curiously. It was certainly interesting to see Satsuki so emotional with anyone who wasn't from the immediate family.

_**Cough Cough**_

"What?!" Satsuki snarled at the offending party, before realizing that she wasn't aware that person was there. Upon seeing the ear-to-ear grin plastered across Itachi's face as he leaned against a door frame, Satsuki blushed in embarrassment while crossing her arms.

Naruto looked at Satsuki strangely, not used to her relenting for any reason. It seemed like the sight of this older boy served to placate her far better than he could, which made him wonder who this person was. He briefly considered that this person may be a friend of hers, which for some reason made him feel... almost jealous.

"Well well well, what have we here?" The black haired boy asked with clear amusement, while Naruto wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Satsuki turned to glare at him while he just smirked back at her. "...why were you two in such a rush, hmm?" He asked, and Naruto was about to answer when Satsuki threw a hand over his mouth.

"Nii-san, I'm in no mood for your annoying comments..." She retorted irritably, while Naruto chuckled nervously. "...its pouring down; we were _trying _to get out of the rain as quickly as possible... but this idiot had to go running all around the district because he didn't know where he was going." She said, once again turning to glare at Naruto. It seemed she wasn't a rain person.

Itachi turned his gaze to Naruto and discretely sized him up. He seemed fit for his age, his posture was good and he wasn't acting overly casual in the home of another. His initial conclusion was simple, Naruto seemed like a perfectly decent boy.

"I apologise for my remarks, Satsuki-chan. So! You must be Naruto, my dear Imōto's friend..." Itachi stated with a warm smile, before his expression turned devious "...you know, she thinks quite highly of you." He stated, making Naruto look over to Satsuki with surprise.

"Nii-san!" Satsuki shouted, a bright red tinge decorating her cheeks from embarrassment. Naruto smiled at the look, she seemed so much more girly and cute when she was embarrassed.

Itachi laughed joyously from the look on Satsuki's face, it was truly priceless and very rare to see. Still, it was also quite amusing to see how Naruto reacted to it. The red-head may not have been aware yet, but the two of them were closer than most kids were. It was only natural, at such a young age having a singular friend of the opposite sex would usually lead to a close relationship between the two. It was also very common for such a relationship to develop into something more, but that was a topic for another day.

"Hi, I'm Naruto... as you know. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything." The younger male in the room said invitingly. Itachi smiled right back at the boy, he could see goodness in the child, and it was truly refreshing.

"Nonsense, you are Satsuki-chan's friend and as such you are always welcome. Oh my name's Itachi by the way. Its nice to meet you." The raven-haired male stated happily, walking forward and offering his hand to Naruto, who promptly accepted the invitation and shook his hand back.

Satsuki watched the exchange curiously. Itachi never usually accepted people so quickly, mostly due to his skill as a Shinobi making him more cautious. Nevertheless, it seemed as though Naruto had either made a good impression or Itachi was being nice to him for her sake.

"Nice to meet you too Itachi." Naruto replied, shaking the other boys hand. It was a little weird to think that Itachi was still only ten years old, but he had aged mentally much more than he should have. He could probably have a tactical and analytical death match with a Kage level Shinobi, which said a lot.

Itachi looked between the two of them before rubbing the back of his head – which was eerily similar to Naruto. "I believe I've come between the two of you for long enough, I'll leave you to your activities." Itachi stated kindly, as he turned to walk off.

Satsuki had no intention of letting him leave just yet though. "Hang on, Naruto is just waiting out the weather. You may as well join us." She stated casually. Naruto smiled at her attitude towards her brother, she didn't try to show it but she obviously felt close to him.

"If you insist... I guess it'll be fun to get to know your friend." Itachi said with a sly smirk that made Satsuki instantly regret her decision...

_'Oh, what have I done?'_

* * *

Naturally the events did not go in Satsuki's favour, with Itachi intentionally telling Naruto some stories that she'd rather leave a secret. Fortunately, Naruto – being his usual considerate self – stopped Itachi after a few of them to save Satsuki from burning alive, if the explosive redness on her face was anything to go by.

After a while, the weather finally cleared up, and none of the people in the house even realized how much time had passed. Itachi and Naruto got along strangely well, sharing quite a few beliefs and goals, much to Satsuki's irritation. The next thing she'd know Naruto would be best friends with Itachi.

She wasn't _actually _worried about that of course. Nope. She didn't care in the slightest... okay, maybe she did.

"Well, I guess I should be going now; I've overstayed my welcome." Naruto said appreciatively, getting an eye roll from Itachi. "...thank you for allowing me to stay." He said, getting a head shake from Satsuki and a laugh from Itachi.

"I invited you in, there's no need to thank us." The raven-haired girl replied, looking down at her nails disinterestedly. Naruto smiled once more before waving to Itachi and Satsuki and walking off, before turning around once more.

"Thanks again!" He shouted, before running off.

After a few moments of polite waiting, Satsuki turned quickly to walk back into the house, flanked by Itachi who was just watching her with amusement. It seemed as though she just wasn't sure what to do in regards to Naruto, since she was friendly and yet difficult all at once. She was such an unusual girl, but that was one of her quirks.

"So... he's an interesting kid. He doesn't exactly strike me as someone you'd be interested in." Itachi remarked calmly, not having the teasing tone he'd adopted for the last few hours. Satsuki looked over to him and narrowed her eyes at him, unsure what he was implying.

"Is that meant to mean something?" The young Uchiha girl asked dangerously, not afraid to (attempt) to pulverise Itachi if he insulted her. Itachi shook his head, still seeming completely serious in what he was saying.

"Not a thing. Its just that, y'know, he's nice, considerate, energetic... hardly your type." He replied, and Satsuki still couldn't find the easy going tone. It was strange, he was hardly the type to insult her personality.

"Sure sounds like you're implying something to me..." She replied, actually sounding a little hurt by what he said. She lowered her head a little and began walking out of the room before abruptly stopped and turning back to him.

Itachi could see he struck some sort of cord, so he frowned in thought. He hadn't meant to insult her, but at the same time he hardly knew that she was so... vulnerable in regards to her somewhat imperfect personality.

"You know what I mean Satsuki-chan..." He said softly, while Satsuki turned away from him, still seeming insulted. "...you're a serious girl, quite the task master and not exactly a people person. I can't exactly fathom how you get along well with someone like him."

The statement had Satsuki closing her eyes rebelliously as she crossed her arms and huffed, but she could see where he was coming from. She herself sometimes doubted just how long their friendship would last, since she was all but forced to refer to it as such, and she just didn't understand how Naruto found her to be... well, a good friend figure.

"I know." She replied suddenly. Itachi looked at her in confusion, unsure what exactly she was agreeing to. "...I don't understand either, if I was like him and he was like me... I'd probably just go find some nicer and more friendly people... I haven't been the best company." The look on her face made Itachi realize that she'd thought about this before, and obviously she was struggling to find an answer to it.

"He obviously sees something in you." Itachi said firmly, making Satsuki look at him with almost... worry. "...you two have known each other for almost two years now, I highly doubt he would keep this friendship going if he didn't like you... and despite your usual attitude around other people, you've obviously found a reason to continue it as well. _Not _including the rivalry." He stated, completely certain – as usual.

Satsuki frowned for a few moments while looking down. Itachi watched her eyes occasionally dart around as her mind worked, and it was a little annoying to have complete silence. Then she raised her head to look at him, actually smiling quite happily.

"You're right... I guess it'd be because I admire his personality. He was born the son of a Kage, and yet he's still so considerate and sociable. I guess I like him because he represents what I could be." Satsuki replied, and Itachi could pretty much discern from her tone just how much she respected Naruto for what he was.

* * *

Naruto arrived at home about twenty minutes later, noticeably out of breath. It had started raining again as he was about midway home, and running back to where he came from would have looked awfully suspicious.

From the kitchen, Minato lowered a small newspaper he was reading to see Naruto, who had been strangely absent for the last few hours. He trusted his son, and knew that a discrete seal placed on the boy would inform him if something was wrong or if he got too far from the village. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't curious, he was very keen and analytical, and he could easily notice Naruto's strange attempts to get out of the house. If he was older, the man would have guessed he was sneaking off to see a girl.

"Back so soon?" The blond man said loudly, making Naruto jump in surprise before centring his gaze on Minato. The red-head blinked a few times in rapid succession before adopting an easily discernible nervous smile.

"Uh... yeah, I just, y'know... went for a walk." Naruto lied unconvincingly. Minato needed to suppress the laugh that threatened to escape him from hearing such a bad excuse, since Naruto always was and always would be a bad liar. It was in his nature to be honest, so it simply didn't work for him to lie.

That being said, playing along when he _did _try to lie was actually pretty damn entertaining. Minato leaned forward on the table, centring a piercing but still kind gaze onto Naruto.

"For this long?" The blond responded in mock surprise. Naruto nodded in a robotic fashion in response, while Minato questioned mentally just how Naruto thought this was believable. "...well, I'm surprised you were able to keep yourself entertained, walking is pretty dull." He said with a straight face.

To his surprise, some of Naruto's tension – due to the obvious lying – drained away at the last statement. It was strange, but the concept of walking seemed to calm Naruto down.

"I don't think so... nature is beautiful, I could walk through the forest for hours." The boy said happily, as his eyes drifted, a sign that he was mentally thinking it over quite actively. Minato rolled his eyes at his strange, but irreplaceable son.

"If you say so..." Minato began, before slamming a palm down onto the table exuberantly. "...now, where were you really?" He continued with a joyous smile, taking pleasure in Naruto's widening eyes and fidgeting hands.

Naruto continued to fidget and dart his eyes around for a few moments before sighing and ceasing all nervous movements. He then centred his gaze right on Minato, who watched eagerly.

"I was with Satsuki, I've been training with her for months now." Naruto said truthfully, crossing his arms in habit. It was a common thing for those who liked to use their hands, since allowing their hands to rest lifelessly at their sides was harder than it seemed.

"Really? Huh, I had no idea." Minato replied casually, though he truly didn't know. It was weird that he wouldn't notice such a thing, but then again he could have found out day one if he really wanted to.

He stared closely at Naruto for a few seconds while the boy just looked at him impatiently, obviously dying to... do something.

"Alright, you can go." The Kage stated tiredly, since he was actually taking a brief respite from paperwork. The best thing about the Hiraishin was the ability to instantly move ones self home during a break. Every time he was free, he simply jumped back to his house to enjoy the brief break, since they didn't last nearly as long as he would have liked.

Naruto nodded and charged upstairs, completely oblivious to the small frown that formed on his father's face.

"Nature is beautiful, huh?"

* * *

A few months passed from that point, and Naruto and Satsuki continued to train together. Now though, they'd constantly be reminded of it at home, which was starting to get a little annoying.

During this time, Naruto and Satsuki had turned six and it was just about time to start the academy. Naturally both of them were very excited about that – though in their own ways – since it was a way to gain strength and to become a Shinobi, which was the only way to ever become good enough to protect or show power.

Both youths were preparing to go to the academy for their first day, which – as far as they knew – was a pretty normal day. They hadn't heard any mention of any sort of important event heralding the first day of the academy, and that suited both of them fine.

For what it mattered, they were going there for knowledge and power, not for fun.

"Do you have anything to write with?"

"Yes, Kaa-san..."

"Do you have your dinner?"

"Yes, Kaa-san..."

"Your Shinobi gear?"

"Yes Kaa-san!"

"How about that Kunai so your Tou-san can come help you if you get in trouble?"

"I _really_ don't need it."

"Come on, take it for me."

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"No!"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"...Fine."

That was the start of the day for one young, fiery-haired boy that was only known as Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage and the Uzumaki beauty, known respectively as Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

Naruto was probably more calm regarding his first day than his mother was, which was a very unusual thing to say. Naruto had been excited about the academy since he could speak, yet Kushina was managing to be more insane than he was!

He was wearing a black shirt with the Uzumaki spiral on the back, blue Shinobi pants – much like his father – and a burnt orange hooded jacket. Many would probably consider his outfit a little weird, but he always did like orange and blue. Probably due to the orange being a mixture of yellow and red and his blue eyes respectively.

"Can we go now? I really don't wanna be late, I mean its my first day and I want to make a good impression. I doubt many outstanding Shinobi are late on their first day." Naruto urged excitedly, while Kushina continued to have a minor panic attack that he may forget something, or get hurt somehow, or... something. It was illogical since the academy was taught by Chūnin-level or higher Shinobi, but she could worry all she wanted. She was a mother, dammit!

"Alright, alright! Just... ease up will ya 'ttebane!" Kushina replied irritatedly. She was never exactly pleased with the way that her own son could outsmart her or act more mature than she was, but then again she was a pretty easy going (and somewhat crazy) woman. "...now remember, don't try to be anything you aren't. If people don't like the real you, then don't let them know him." Kushina said encouragingly, as Naruto took a few moments to let the meaning behind her words sink in. He knew she always meant the best for him, and it was always warming.

The two then made their way to the door, with Naruto in the lead since his strides were influenced by his excitement and childlike exuberance. Kushina smiled warmly at the back of him as she could feel the happiness and thrill emanate from within him like a blazing flame. A serene silence began to permeate the air as they walked through the streets of Konoha, which – as always – were bristling with life. Konoha was a majestic place, and Kushina knew from experience that it was definitely the most appealing great Shinobi village. It was warm, calm, peace-loving and generally just a delightful place.

While they walked in comfortable silence through the streets of Konoha, Naruto couldn't help but think about everything he knew and would one day want to know. He wanted to be a Shinobi, he knew that much. He wanted to be strong to protect and not for the simple cause of desiring power so that he'd be above others. The problem was obvious to him: he was all but certain that Satsuki's reason for becoming strong were not desirable ones. Sure, he could see goodness in her that she only rarely showed, but her attitude was sometimes troubling. He was always known for having sixth sense for people and their personalities, it was almost frightening how often he was right.

As they began to near the academy, traffic began to pick up. It was obvious why, there were about six years worth of training, so that was six years worth of students as well. You could pass early, but that was rather rare...

Minato was unfortunately unable to accompany Naruto today because he had the most troublesome job in existence. It was definitely rewarding and enjoyable to be a Kage, but it also meant you had less time to do what you actually wanted to. Missing important events was a common thing for the Hokage to do.

Coming right up to the academy, Naruto could easily make out the people his age. He recognised the few people he had passing knowledge of, which were Kiba, Shikamaru and Shino. Each of them he met by complete accident and somewhat remembered, but none of them had much experience with the others. He vaguely remembered playing Shogi with Shikamaru, and damn that guy was good... it wasn't even funny. No five year old should be that good at highly complex strategy games, not even a Nara.

As he turned his gaze, he could see the tell-tale black ponytail of one Satsuki Uchiha, along with Mikoto and Itachi. Apparently Fugaku couldn't make it either, but then again he was in charge of the Uchiha police force, which was probably quite a troublesome job. He looked back over to his mother, who was... glaring at Mikoto. Those two had a rivalry almost as strong as Madara and Hashirama, it was pretty ridiculous.

"Kaa-san, you're glaring again." Naruto said with a flat expression. Kushina blinked a few times and retracted her eyes from Mikoto to look at Naruto, before chuckling nervously.

"Oh... right." She replied awkwardly. Naruto rolled his eyes light-heartedly at her actions, she was one strange mother... but he wouldn't trade her for anything or anyone.

He turned back to see most of the people outside filing in, while Mikoto and Itachi walked over to them. Naruto flashed the two a smile, he was quite fond of Mikoto – she was like an aunt, or something like that – and Itachi was a very nice guy, with admirable beliefs.

"I should have expected to see you here Naruto, I forgot you were planning on becoming a Shinobi as well." Itachi stated thoughtfully, while Mikoto just ruffled the boy's hair much to his chagrin, though it never looked tidy anyway. His hair was always a little disorganised, and yet it still looked good. He didn't realize just how many people would kill to have hair you didn't need to touch to look good.

"Well I need to become a Shinobi to protect my precious people, don't I?" Naruto retorted confidently, pointing a thumb to his chest with furrowed brows and a strong smile (for his age, anyway).

Itachi and Mikoto both smiled at his attitude, knowing full well that his heart was in the right place. "Well, you should probably head in Naruto-kun." Mikoto said warmly, while Kushina discretely glared at her again. They were stealing her job dammit!

Naruto smiled gratefully at the woman before nodding. "Yeah, you're probably right. Bye Kaa-san, Mikoto-Obasan (Is that right, aunt?), Itachi!" He said, running off towards the building. Everyone watched him go before he finally got into the building and out of sight...

...which is when Kushina decided to start glaring at Mikoto again. Mikoto noticed her doing this and tilted her head in confusion.

"What?"

* * *

Naruto calmly walked into his class to see that just about everyone was already seated... and looking at him. Fortunately, he wasn't the nervous type, so he merely smiled and scanned the room slowly. Fortunately, he saw Satsuki was basically sitting in her own row, so he walked up to join her while people murmured – probably about him, knowing gossipers – before sitting down and flashing her a smile.

"You took long enough." Satsuki said quietly, her large smirk denoting her intent. Naruto tilted his head and closed his eyes, not giving the slightest bit of attention to the attempt to annoy him. Satsuki huffed in failure before leaning her elbow on the table, while holding her head up with her hand.

"So Satsuki, are you excited to start the academy." Naruto asked as quietly as he could, given his own excitement. Satsuki looked at him strangely for a few moments before shrugging with apparent disinterest.

"Pfft, why should I be? Its obvious I'll pass." She said, while Naruto frowned at her. He narrowed his eyes and started to lean closer to her, while she looked out the corner of her eye to see him – rather creepily – advancing on her.

Her first thought was to punch him in the face because he was breaking her boundaries, but with Naruto she knew he had some... eccentricities... that she had to somewhat ignore. Placing her hand out to the side and directly into his face, she pushed him back a little before turning to face him with a plain face.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a bored tone, still leaning on her hand. Naruto huffed in apparent irritation, further confusing Satsuki before he turned to stare right at her.

"How can you not be excited? This is life changing!" He stated, almost a little insulted that somebody as Shinobi-focused as she and he was wouldn't be excited about starting the academy; the place you went to to START being a Shinobi!

Truth be told, she had been very excited. She ensured that she woke up earlier than necessary just to get her ridiculous levels of excitement out in the open before coming into a public space where she could potential thoroughly embarrass herself. She had her Uchiha pride, and she wasn't going to waste it on this.

Before Satsuki could answer him, a man walked into the room. "Alright, settle down everyone!" He called out, as everyone faced the front to regard him. He was a rather normal looking fellow, other than a small scar across the bridge of his nose.

He smiled gratefully at everyone becoming quiet so quickly before taking on a more casual and friendly demeanor. "Thank you, my name is Iruka Umino and I will be your instructor for foreseeable future." The newly named Iruka declared, while the majority of the class welcomed him. The only reason Naruto didn't was because he was still attempting to glare at Satsuki, while she just didn't care enough.

"Alright, let's see here... Kiba Inuzuka!" He shouted, while a silence invaded the room. "...that was your cue to say you are here." He said, while a quiet 'oh!' was audible through the room.

"Uh... here!" A brown haired boy with a hooded jacket and what looked like a dog said exuberantly. Naruto's first impression was loyal, a little slow, and nice.

"Next is..."

After a few moments, all the insubstantial students around the room had been sorted through and Iruka moved onto the relevant ones.

"...Hinata Hyūga!"

"H-Here!" A girl with dark blue hair and pale white eyes muttered shyly. Naruto assumed she had self-confidence issues, but was kind hearted and capable of strength.

"...Shino Aburame!"

"I am here." Came the calm voice of a boy in a very high collared coat. Naruto somewhat knew him, so he was aware of his stoic and collected attitude, though one could deduce that quite easily.

"...Ino Yamana-"

The answer he received was the door flying open to reveal two young girls, one with mid length blond hair and the other with bright pink hair._ 'What an unusual hair colour...'_ Naruto thought to himself impassively.

"I'm... here..." Ino panted out. Naruto assumed that she was running (literally) late. His impression was drama queen and appearance freak, but still good.

"Right... um... Shikamaru Nara?"

"Mmm." Came the muffled sound of Shikamaru, who had his head to the desk, the only thing revealing that he answered being his lazily raised hand. Iruka rolled his eyes but decided to ignore it for now. Naruto knew Shikamaru was extremely lazy, but also even smarter than he was so.

"Chōji Akamichi!"

"I'm here!" A chubby boy with thick brown hair shouted happily. Naruto could tell he was a nice kid simply from his answer, and his personality radar wasn't even necessary.

"Sai... just Sai?"

"Yes?" A black haired, pale-skinned boy said unconvincingly. Naruto couldn't get a good reading on him, he just seemed so... fake.

"Sakura Haruno!"

"Here!" Came the loud voice of the pinkette, who was now sat beside Naruto. He briefly wondered how he didn't notice her – especially with that hair colour – but let it go just as quickly. He could see goodness, but also bad tendencies and a bit of a brutish personality in her.

"Satsuki Uchiha!"

"Yep." The black haired girl said emotionlessly. Naruto gained a tick mark at her seemingly bored attitude, but simply sighed, shook his head and let it go. Some of the people in the room regarded her closely for being in such a strong clan, and many of the males whistled at her beauty – which in turn made her sigh – but quickly moved on when Iruka said...

"Last but not least... Naruto N-Namikaze?!"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted with his hand vaguely raised, before he noticed that the room had quietened down considerably. He looked around to see people regarding him with either surprise, awe or interest and instantly realized that his name may bring up some unwanted attention. "Can I help you all?" He said somewhat sarcastically.

That statement didn't seem to ease their curiosity but increase it, as they were seemingly trying to deduce just what kind of person the Hokage's son was. Naruto turned a little to see the star-eyed gaze of Sakura and inwardly groaned, this was going to be hard...

"Alright, that's enough!" Iruka called out, only just having gotten over the fact that he had the Hokage's son in his class... his job just got a lot harder. "...leave Naruto alone, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to stare at him later!" He continued, as Naruto's jaw dropped and Satsuki had to hold in a laugh.

_'Damn you Iruka!' _Naruto mentally seethed, since he'd given them the free option to do so. Satsuki was actually quite amused by the outcome of the events, she somewhat knew this would happen, it was inevitable.

"Good luck with the fan girls, Naruto-_kun_." Satsuki said teasingly, as she sat back in her chair triumphantly.

Naruto quickly paled as he realized what he was in for.

_'I'm so dead!'_

**-****End-**

**A****lright, unofficial poll. I say unofficial because I'm not making a poll, rather I'm gonna go by review feedback. Time skip forward a few years, or take my time? I'm happy (OK that **_**may**_** be a lie) to do either.**

**Anyway... Review, Favourite and/or Follow. **

**LiamMorg. Out.**

**Ja Ne!**


	5. Dark Revelations

**I don't own Naruto... if I did then I wouldn't be capable of writing ridiculous power ups without my fans questioning where they happened. **

**Sorry for the extreme lateness, but I am swamped. The fact that my current arc in Small Changes is affecting my mental health and lowering my morale isn't helping either.**

**Sorry for the lack of a quote last chapter too, I kinda forgot. I hope the one in this chapter sufficiently placates you... got a bit of a rhyme goin' too.**

**Quite a lot of summary and flash-backing in this chapter, because I'm time-skipping (per popular request) a little while forward.**

_**Quote of the chapter/day: "People we trust can betray us, people we love can leave, and people we've known forever can cease to be. We can say this forever, but you secretly hope you'll always be together."**_

_**Pre-Shinobi Arc**_

**Chapter 04: Dark Revelations**

**-Last Chapter-**

_'Damn you Iruka!' Naruto mentally seethed, since he'd given them the free option to do so. Satsuki was actually quite amused by the outcome of the events, she somewhat knew this would happen, it was inevitable. _

"_Good luck with the fan girls, Naruto-kun." Satsuki said teasingly, as she sat back in her chair triumphantly. _

_Naruto quickly paled as he realized what he was in for._

_'I'm so dead!'_

**-Start-**

The academy was an interesting place for all who went there and none would argue against the fact that it had a large effect on their lives, but for Naruto and Satsuki, they found it to be a little too easy, all things considered. It wasn't necessarily that the curriculum was particularly lax, or encouraging of the less able students, it just seemed like the two youths were over-prepared for it.

If one were to consider that small hypothesis, they would probably agree. The two children were beginning serious Shinobi training at the age of four, when most didn't even start training or considering it whatsoever until they got into the academy, a whole two years later. The mere fact that both of them had learned elemental Ninjutsu – or Ninjutsu at all, for that matter – was phenomenal at their respective age. The two were being considered as the next Kakashi Hatake or Itachi Uchiha's, which – given their familial ties and connections – was actually pretty logical. Naruto had been regularly taught Shinobi related things by Kakashi since the beginning due to the silver haired Jōnin's connection to the Yondaime while Satsuki was the sibling of Itachi.

To say that the youths were breezing through the academy was a mild understatement...

_**Flashback no Jutsu! **_

_**Time Stamp: Academy Year 1. Class age(s): 6-7**_

"_Alright class, it's time for a little history lesson, but first we'll have a little test on some important topics." Iruka stated cheerfully, as was his normal demeanor, while most of the class groaned in tandem. _

_Naruto smirked with obvious amusement, knowing that the majority of the class was actually fully capable of answering most questions thrown at them. It seemed to be a subconscious reaction to tests in general that a person groan, or something on those lines. He looked to his left to see his best friend and rival, Satsuki Uchiha, looking bored as usual. Looking to his right, he briefly caught Sakura staring at him, before she snapped away when he looked her way. His eye twitched slightly as he contemplated setting her straight, but he was far too damn nice to do so._

"_First question, what was the Shodai Hokage known for?" Iruka asked quizzically, as the room seemed to fall into silence. Naruto had taken to not answering immediately whenever he knew an answer, since the others in the class needed to learn sometime. Satsuki did the same, though it was mostly because she wanted to see if Naruto knew as well. "...nobody? Naruto, how about you?" The man continued, as Naruto straightened in his seat._

"_Do you want more than one answer(?), because there were a few things I think." Naruto stated kindly, while Iruka looked at him with a small frown before shrugging nonchalantly. "...OK then... first there was the **Mokuton**, since he was the only one in history to possess that ability. He created peace between the Uchiha and Senju clans and he established the village system which the entire Shinobi world now follows."_

_Iruka blinked a few times before shaking his head and sighing. The only answer he was expecting was the **Mokuton** or the village system, but he wasn't expecting them both on top of the Uchiha/Senju peace treaty. It was probably a bad idea to ask Naruto anything Hokage-related, given the identity of the boy's father. Still it DID get the answers he needed, along with other spare details that he would have to mention himself in more depth later._

_Satsuki looked at him with a satisfied smirk. "It's just like you to go ahead and say everything possible, if you're not careful people might call you the teacher's pet." Naruto huffed at the jab, crossing his arms and looking forward with his eyes closed, not sparing her a glance. She then nudged his arm with her elbow, making him drop the rebellious pose and look at her. "...so, we're still even then?" She said, referring to a little game they had going between them. They basically just tallied which of them got questions wrong and right, and whoever had the best ratio was the 'winner'. Currently neither had gotten one wrong, but there were many years ahead..._

"_For now, but you should know I don't give up." Naruto replied, with his usual determination and fire. Satsuki smirked in response, crossing her arms and giving him the smuggest look she could pull off._

"_And YOU should know that I don't lose." She retorted, before shooting him a wink – which got a glare at her from Sakura and gained Naruto a glare from some of the more lecherous males in the class (I'm looking at you, Kiba..) - and facing forward once more. _

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

...since it was very rare for students to make casual competitions about which messed up more often.

That wasn't to say they weren't learning anything in the academy, because they were definitely improving, it was just that they advanced much less than the rest of the class because of their superior skills. Naruto had actually made the best of a bad situation with his fangirls, since he was a nice person and regardless of his views on them he was still courteous with them. This helped to make most of them slowly but surely drop out of the fangirl state of mind and into a more casual relationship. Fangirls were generally fangirls because they envisioned things about 'cool' people, and since Naruto was so open and approachable the envisioned state was eventually replaced by facts.

This also caused Naruto to be slightly unpopular with the male population of the class, since most of them were jealous of his ease with everything Shinobi related and just how easily he got along with the girls in the class. That wasn't to say he didn't get along with any of them though, because there were a few he did get along with.

Kiba Inuzuka was a pseudo-rival for Naruto. The only reason he wasn't a full rival was because the boy simple couldn't keep up, but the energy and attitude Kiba possessed made the two of them quite similar in some regards, so they were fast friends. Kiba was a little jealous of Naruto's friendliness with Satsuki – who basically despised the Inuzuka – but it didn't get in the way too much.

Shikamaru and Chōji were pretty easy too, since the two were together nearly all the time. Chōji was a nice and friendly person, so he and Naruto got on well. Shikamaru was lazy, but very intelligent, making him quite easy to approach for Naruto, since the Nara was just about the only person in the class who could outsmart him on the male side. Naruto wasn't excessively smart, nor was he stupid, he was just quick witted.

Satsuki didn't really get on with anyone other than Naruto, because almost all the boys would hit on her, which – unlike Naruto – she couldn't just smile her way through, and those that didn't weren't worth her time. The girls were just pathetic in her eyes, Sakura was only good with theoretical stuff, Hinata had zero confidence – and an obvious crush on Naruto, which made her dislike the girl more.. for some reason – and Ino was just annoying. The others in the class simply weren't worth batting an eyelash at.

Naruto and Satsuki were practically inseparable, and neither of them even noticed it. The two were never apart, and were always happiest and were well driven in the presence of the other. During lessons, they would always sit together – not that anyone really moved much, - and chat during slow periods while helping each other and commenting on the easy topic they received. During break time, they'd hang around together, eat, talk and occasionally fit in a little quick training.

That had also brought on an unwanted occurrence...

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

_**Time Stamp: Academy Year 2. Class age(s): 7**_

_Satsuki and Naruto were running into the small woods near the academy to fill up the unusually large break period they received. This was a common occurrence for the two youths, since they weren't really the types to just lay around and talk. It wasn't that either of them were opposed to the action, they just preferred to be doing something a little more practical and worth their time... which usually fell into training or something along those lines. _

"_So, what should we do today?" Naruto asked calmly, despite the fact that they'd been running for numerous minutes at the age of seven. Having been in the academy for a year, the two had started training even more liberally, generally in physical conditioning. _

_Satsuki would admit without any measure of embarrassment that Naruto was abnormally good at Taijutsu. It just seemed like he had a knack for it, since he found stances to be very comfortable with little experience in them. He was still seven though, so a ten year old who was moderate in Taijutsu would probably still beat him quite easily, but by the time he was the same age he would be much better. _

_On the flip-side, Naruto would often comment on how fast Satsuki was, along with finding himself rather entranced with her at times. It was strange, but whenever she moved she seemed unusually graceful and often Naruto would simply forget what he was doing to watch her. She had chastised him on this numerous times, finding him to be rather creepy when he was staring at her like that. He always apologised repeatedly, since he wasn't sure why he was doing it... but that was that. _

_Both of them were pretty good at Ninjutsu, but none had put much attention into it beyond what they'd already learned. Satsuki discovered that she had an affinity for **Raiton (Lightning Release)** along with **Katon**, which she'd already guessed. The academy techniques were apparently quite simple, but they would learn those later._

"_How about we race up a tree?" Satsuki said with a small smile, which was becoming all the more common in Naruto's presence. Naruto instantly knew she wasn't referring to climbing it the normal way, and nodded energetically. Neither of them had discussed tree climbing with the other, but they somewhat knew that the other was basically on the same level in just about everything... it was getting ridiculous just how competitive the two were. Satsuki had even managed to make Naruto almost as competitive as she was!_

"_Sounds good to me, I'm always up for a challenge!" The red-head replied happily, while Satsuki narrowed her eyes while maintaining her smile. After a few moments of silence, the two came to a stop in a small clearing with the largest trees in the area. Naruto looked up and around to gauge the rough height and difficulty of climbing the particular trees before nodding in satisfaction when he'd finished his small analysis. Satsuki looked at him like he was stupid, since the information he was after was hardly relevant. _

_Each of them stood at the base of a respective tree, glancing at the other before Satsuki started to count down with her hand. Once she reached zero, they both ran at their tree and began to try and scale it. Unfortunately for Naruto, due to his chakra capacity and inferior speed, Satsuki was able to get noticeably higher than him on the first attempt, much to his ire. He dropped down to the ground with a small stagger, and moments later Satsuki dropped down with infinitely more grace. _

"_Hah! I win!" She exclaimed passionately, making Naruto cross his arms and huff in defeat. It was an unspoken rule that he allow Satsuki to savour her victories, since she really didn't like to lose and she didn't beat him as often as she would have liked. After a few moments of mildly falsified disappointment, Naruto broke out into a smile and allowed his arms to fall back to his sides once more. _

"_I'll get you next time..." He retorted cheerfully, before turning to the side, which held seemingly no important details. "...now, could you guys come out? You aren't exactly quiet." The statement was met with confusion by Satsuki, who thought Naruto had heard something that wasn't there. That proved to be wrong when Sakura, Kiba, Ino, Chōji and Shikamaru walked out of the bushes. She looked at him with surprise, but ultimately it wasn't important how he heard them. _

_Satsuki began to glare at the offending group, since she didn't appreciate people violating her privacy. Even Naruto looked upset, which wasn't a common occurrence, so it was clear to the five young spies that their snooping was not condoned by the pair. Shikamaru was the most indifferent of the group, being the lazy kid he was. Kiba was too overconfident to fully care, but the rest of them looked a little guilty. _

"_Why exactly are you following us? I expect a good answer." Satsuki asked dangerously, and most of the offending party inwardly gulped. Satsuki was scary. Her appearance didn't inspire fear, and nor did her careless demeanour, but her skill and anger was plenty enough to scare anyone in their age group. She'd actually knocked Kiba unconscious for invading her personal space once in the past, which wasn't good for his reputation or her record, but she didn't care... he deserved it. _

"_W-well we... we were uh..." Sakura stammered out, causing Satsuki's glare to centre on her and to intensify appropriately. The raven-haired heiress did NOT like Sakura. The pinkette was a shameless fangirl, completely inept in the practical aspect of Shinobi duties and was generally annoying in both her demeanour and the atmosphere around her. If they were put in the same squad at graduation Satsuki would probably give up._

_Naruto raised a hand to stop Sakura from talking and another to calm Satsuki. Much to the Uchiha's ire, it actually worked quite well, as her glare began to shrink down to an expression embodying irritation, rather than anger or... well, worse. It never ceased to surprise anyone just how easily Naruto could talk to Satsuki, and many theorized that she was playing nice with the Hokage's son. These rumours were promptly put to rest when she revealed they'd known each other since they were four, through their parents who were best friends._

"_These guys wanted to know where you two would always wander off to, what you'd do... you know the drill. I just came because Ino's nagging would never end otherwise." Shikamaru answered in his usual bored and nonchalant manner. Naruto suppressed a smirk at the usual answer from Shikamaru, since he was still a little annoyed that they were spying on him and Satsuki. He always savoured his alone time with the Uchiha heir... he just liked to be around her._

"_You could have just asked, rather than spying... though it would've been pretty awesome if you guys had gotten away with it." The red head stated casually, initially confusing most of the group before they realized he was referring to the potential of stealth skill. _

_Satsuki still didn't look pleased, but rather than make a fuss she decided to simply start walking back towards the academy with a stoically plain face. Naruto sucked his tongue in disappointment before looking back at the five unwelcome individuals in front of him. Shrugging, he too started to walk towards the academy, before pausing in his stride after a few steps._

"_So are you guys just gonna stand here or...?" _

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

...which had unfortunately turned into a somewhat common occurrence. Naruto's friendly atmosphere meant he couldn't really say no if other people asked to tag along, much to his own and Satsuki's secret irritation. He was still a lot more open about his connection to the Uchiha heiress than she was to him, but she had become far more friendly since the beginning of the academy – mostly because she had to – which led to their relationship growing all the more. She now had no problem whatsoever being kind and generally _pleasant_ around him... but only him (excluding her family).

That was just one of the many unusual quirks that these two had. Satsuki seemed to have difficulty being nice to people, as though it was ingrained into her psyche while Naruto had difficulty being mean to people, to the point where he would put himself in a bit of a bind in order to be nice or friendly to another person. That was one of the reasons they got along so well, they balanced each other out. Satsuki could chastise Naruto on his overly-friendly attitude, while Naruto could placate her when she was about to tear someone's head off.

It was an unconventional relationship, but it worked.

That wasn't to say that the two never had problems with each other, because it was actually quite the opposite. The key factor was that they could argue, bicker and get at the other's throats without any detrimental fallout on their relationship as a whole. Sometimes Naruto would get irritated at Satsuki's unflinching attempts to fan the flames of their rivalry, while Satsuki was annoyed by Naruto's unbelievably inexhaustible ability to talk and talk... _and talk_... about complete rubbish.

That never caused any noticeable rift between the pair, but it often surprised outside presences that that was the case. Mikoto and Kushina would regularly be completely baffled by the two's magical ability to go from worst enemy to best friend in the matter of moments, but it was actually a pretty good thing... since their little plan was still underway, and arguments tended to happen in _that_ kind of relationship.

But that was only a rough summary of what happened during those two years at the academy and at home, since plenty of different things happened – all of varying importance – that could impact the way their future's progressed. Wheels were turning, gears were grinding and water was flowing in both the Uchiha district and the Namikaze household. The reason that these things were happening in both places at once was complete coincidence... but none could argue that they were pivotal.

_**TRANSITION!**_

Naruto Uzumaki – who had been begrudgingly convinced to drop the 'Namikaze' from his name, since dual surnames were confusing and clan names were more important – was currently at home, contemplating life, and dealing with some potted plants that he'd gotten at his own request. Minato had acted a little strangely in response to the request, but agreed nonetheless, since he saw no problem with the decision.

Contemplating life wasn't the average activity for an eight year old child, but as he'd proven time and time again, he was anything but normal. He was well above his peers in Shinobi skill, he was actually quite sharp for his age and he generally progressed through just about anything with ease. He wasn't on the same level of intellect that his father was, but that was to be expected with a brash lady like Kushina involved in his genetic make-up.

While he was going about his duties, Minato and Kushina were about to start a very serious discussion down in their living room.

"Kushina-chan, I think it's time we told him." Minato said with grave severity, making Kushina pause in her seat momentarily to allow the words to sink into her mind. It wasn't often that they needed to have serious discussions regarding Naruto, since he was generally so easy to be around and skilled as a Shinobi-in-training.

"About what?" Kushina asked, seriously hoping that this wasn't what she was thinking it was about. It was different for her... she was informed of the duty before the beast was within her, but Naruto... he had no knowledge nor say in the matter. The fact that he'd contained the complete form of the Kyūbi since infancy with no signs of seal degradation was... phenomenal; unheard of. Even she needed her seal repaired from time to time, and her chakra was _very_ strong.

A small frown crossed Minato's features as his eyes drifted to the stairs, before centring back on Kushina. "His... burden." The blond Kage stated, gripping his knee more tightly than necessary, since he too needed to come to terms with what they'd done all those years ago. Up until now the Kyūbi had stayed silent, but how much longer would that last? They needed to tell him... before it was too late.

It was actually pretty common for Jinchūriki to be completely incompatible with their Bijū, either because they didn't have the chakra capacity, potency or willpower to control them... then there were psychological issues like loneliness which only served to exacerbate the issue of Bijū gaining influence over their Jinchūriki. It was in everyone's best interest that Naruto learn of the beast soon, come to terms with what it means, and learn to live with it without becoming... less than he was.

"Are you sure now is the right time? He's still only eight, there's another four years in the academy before he goes into any sort of combat." Kushina reasoned, trying to hide her apprehension about telling Naruto full stop. Minato wasn't revered as one of the most shrewd and intelligent men – and Shinobi, in general – of his generation for nothing though, as he easily caught it.

"I understand this must be difficult for you, having lived through it and experienced the worst case scenario... but the sooner we tell him, the more he can adjust to it." The blond stated knowingly, causing Kushina to fall silent for a few seconds as a regretful frown crossed her features, while the rest of her face softened in guilt and sadness.

She hated that she was responsible for placing that beast within Naruto, and she never stopped thinking about what may happen if it got too much control... it was a horrifying thought for a mother.

"Alright... let's get it over with."

_**TRANSITION!**_

Over in the Uchiha district, very different and yet almost equally dire topics were bubbling to the surface. Itachi was always strangely absent as of late, and one of the clan's most revered up-and-coming Shinobi had disappeared without any trace, as though he was snatched away by some form of phantasmal being.

His name was Shisui Uchiha.

The fact that Itachi was always a close friend of Shisui helped many of them explain his absence since the boy's disappearance... but Satsuki wasn't convinced. When Itachi _was_ around, he never seemed like he was sad or in mourning of Shisui... he seemed tense and frustrated. The fact that he and Fugaku had a deteriorating relationship for about a year wasn't helping either. Satsuki had no idea what was going on between the two, but it was obviously raising tensions considerably.

What truly set off warning lights was that Itachi shrugged off helping her. To anyone outside the siblings it would look completely normal, as he merely said _'No, I'm busy...'_, but to Satsuki it was extremely worrying. Not ONCE before that had he ever blown her off without poking her in the forehead and asking her to forgive him for his inability to help her out

_Not. Once._

What was even more troubling – if at all possible – was that he was now fully comfortable admitting the issues and drawbacks with the way the Uchiha clan operated, why it didn't deserve such reputation and fame, and many other topics that confused her. She had always noticed that Itachi seemed to be a little distant from the clan; not fully agreeing with the traditions and mindset of the clan as a whole, but it had gotten infinitely worse.

So here she was, merely sitting in her room thinking about just what the hell was wrong with her brother. It was entirely possible that she was over-thinking things; that the stress and tension Itachi was portraying in his mannerisms and actions were his way of coping with Shisui's disappearance, and that he did the actual mourning in private. Itachi was strong for his age, very strong, and maybe wanted to maintain his pride...

...but then again, Itachi was in ANBU and had been for a couple of years now. He had seen and done some troubling things without hesitation and had still been open and friendly to her at all times... but now, even behind the innate and powerful affection he felt for her as his Imōto, she could decipher feelings of distaste. She wasn't a human emotion detector like Naruto, and nor would she admit that she was good at reading emotions at all... but Itachi was her brother, the person she loved the most – perhaps even more than Mikoto – and to see him acting even slightly different was enough for her to start seeing signs.

The most worrying thing happened a little while back, but she didn't really know what it meant...

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

_**Time Stamp: Just After Shisui's Disappearance**_

Satsuki and Itachi were seated around a dinner table in their home, with Mikoto making food. Neither had said anything, but the atmosphere wasn't tense. The issues with Itachi and... just about everyone else hadn't started yet, or not to a high degree. Satsuki found herself idly looking at Itachi's ANBU uniform... finding it almost cool. It wasn't her style to get giddy over nothing though, so she made no comment.

"Here you go you two." Mikoto said in a sing-song voice as she walked into the room with some food for the two of them. Satsuki was too intrigued with the sight of her favourite meal to pay much attention to what Itachi had, but she was sure it was something healthy and rather plain, since he was very... invested in his diet and Shinobi career.

As Satsuki ate, she could see Itachi looking at her, though it was from the edge of her vision so she couldn't make out too much detail. What she could see was a narrowed gaze, an impassive frown decorating his face and furrowed brows. She tried her hardest to ignore it, but eventually she settled for raising her head at a slow pace. Itachi's expression instantly changed to a more normal one, though she was a little creeped out by the look he gave her.

For the next few minutes, Satsuki stayed silent... but this time it _could_ be described as awkward or tense. During the time, Satsuki ate slowly, mostly just playing with her food as she tried her hardest not to look at Itachi despite the fact that she could still see his narrowed gaze. Mikoto eventually came back in and seemed to sense the tenseness, because she paused in the doorway and looked between them.

Itachi's expressions shifted as soon as Mikoto entered the room, and he briefly glanced over to her before retracting his eyes. He allowed a smile to rise across his face, not showing any obvious signs that it was being forced or strained, other than the small amount that seemed to be permanent since the disappearance of Shisui.

"So Satsuki, how's the academy treating you, and how's Naruto doing?" Itachi asked casually as he leaned forward on the table. Satsuki smiled in return, seeing his usual demeanor return to him. She wasn't the type of person to accurately evaluate a frown, so she didn't see any issues at all.

"Oh the academy is really easy all things considered, I get how you managed to graduate so early..." Satsuki replied arrogantly before her smile shifted into a smirk. "...and Naruto's doing fine I guess... that idiot isn't my level in the intelligence aspects, but he's my equal in everything else."

She closed her eyes and leaned back when she finished, displaying her calm and ease when saying that. Itachi smiled broadly as he heard her so openly admit that someone outside the clan was her equal. Naruto had been an unbelievably good influence on her since their meeting, she would never have become so laid back about having someone equal or better her in any other situation. Even Itachi annoyed her with his skills, and he was five years older and an ANBU member!

"That's good to hear!" Mikoto said happily as she finally decided to enter the room rather than just linger at the entrance. Itachi idly looked at the room to the opposite side of her as Satsuki smiled at her mother. Her mother was pretty damn awesome and was able to get along with Satsuki better than most, probably better than Itachi but surprisingly not as well as Naruto for reasons she didn't understand. Satsuki and Naruto were clearly heading in _that_ direction, which actually made her quite happy. "...now then, are you two finished?"

Satsuki nodded casually, while Itachi shrugged in distinctly emotionless way. Mikoto narrowed her gaze on Itachi, unsure why the reaction he gave was very unlike him. She could somewhat understand that this may be normal after Shisui disappeared, but Itachi showed very little signs of grieving, surprisingly. The two were always very close and to see Itachi not caring was quite worrying.

"Say Itachi... are you doing okay?" Mikoto asked with concern, placing one hand on the elder sibling's shoulder. Itachi merely spared a glance in her direction that she was sure contained a venomous undertone before once again shrugging. "...are you sure? I know the whole thing with Shisui can't be easy for you. You two were always close and now that h-"

"I'm fine!" Itachi snapped in return, his **Sharingan** spinning to life as he snarled at her. For the faintest of seconds, one could perceive the tomoes contained within the eyes attempting to merge together, before calming down and remaining in the usual three tomoe state. Mikoto took a step back at the sudden and unnecessary retort, before calmly and without a word taking their plates and leaving the room while Satsuki sat very quietly in her chair, having been made very uncomfortable in her brother's presence.

After a few moments, Itachi stood and left the room, leaving a bewildered and uncomfortable young girl in his wake.

_**Flashback no Jutsu! Kai!**_

...since it was so abnormal. She knew that Itachi loved Mikoto very much, and for him to intentionally be so cold to the woman was almost unthinkable. It had gotten to the point where she was so worried about Itachi and their relationship that she had actually become more anti-social and even angry in public. The fact that Naruto hadn't said anything just proved how obvious her problems were... he was too damn selfless, and he had learned not to pry into her affairs.

She had improved her relationship with her father considerably since she learned her first elemental Ninjutsu, since seeing her potential was the foundation of the two getting along. The fact that Itachi had become more and more edgy and rebellious meant that he was far happier to ignore the older sibling as well, so at least there was a small silver lining to the situation... but it was surrounded by vicious storm clouds.

"This is impossible, I'll think about it later." Satsuki muttered to herself impatiently, before getting ready to leave. Despite regularly training with Naruto on academy days, she still liked to squeeze in some extra training on the off days. Whether or not she did it to get an edge up on the previously mentioned red-head was completely irrelevant... probably.

She opened her door slowly, since opening it quickly often resulted in her hitting someone in the face, before walking at a brisk face through the largish building that made up the Uchiha's clan head housing. As far as clans and rules went, the Uchiha were a very traditional bunch, believing that the leader of the clan should represent the greatest of them, even down to housing. It was probably this reason that led to Satsuki and many other Uchiha shinobi becoming overly prideful and the source of their views on strength.

That being said, they were still several noteworthy individuals within the clan who were very selfless and peaceful people. Kagami Uchiha – who was once a teammate of the Sandaime Hokage – was noted as a relevant example since he was good enough to get even the Nidaime, an individual who was admittedly wary of the Uchiha clan, to work with and trust him.

None of that was entirely relevant at the moment though, as Satsuki began to pick up what sounded like a muffled argument. She furrowed her brows, tilting her head to the side before raising a single brow and briefly considering whether to ignore the sound or to check it out. Being her usual self and feeling the need to know everything, she ultimately decided to check it out.

"-ired of hearing about you sneaking off Kami knows where! Things are complicated enough after Shisui's disappearance and I don't need you adding to it!"

The voice was familiar, despite the muffling through the walls. It was clear that it belonged to Fugaku Uchiha, but it was uncertain who he was speaking with. Then a second voice, sounding equally annoyed, decided to reply.

"I don't see how that's my problem! Oh wait, yes it is! Because I'm just a glorified weapon to you; a display of our clan's strength!"

The snarl and anger within the second voice was audible through the somewhat thin walls of the Uchiha compound, as was the identity of the user. Itachi. Satsuki was well aware that Fugaku and Itachi weren't getting along too well these days, but she had no idea that their relationship had degraded so far. Pressing her ear to the door of the chamber she heard the voices coming from, she frowned in confusion as to why they were arguing.

"You are the most gifted Uchiha in generations! Look at you, an ANBU member at the age of only thirteen, a possessor of a fully matured **Sharingan** and a tactician with almost no equal! Isn't it logical that I make use of your skill?" Came the deceptively calm voice of Fugaku, before a bark of laughter was shot in response from Itachi.

"That's exactly your problem _Tou-san_..." Itachi's angry voice spat the word like a curse; as though the mere word was meant to carry malice. "...you don't look at me as a son, you look at me like an opportunity; a mere representation! You and this entire clan are hopeless... all any of you care about is the clan and our appearance!"

An almost inaudible gasp – or maybe a growl, it was hard to make out – was then heard from within the room before a tense silence fell upon the entire compound. Satsuki could have sworn it hadn't ever been so quiet in her short life, and the wait was making her fidget nervously with her hands as her eyes darted around the room, looking desperately for something to capture her attention while she waited for the conversation to continue. She wasn't even sure why she was still listening; this was none of her business, but it was making her so uncomfortable that she was afraid to leave.

"I don't like what you're implying here, Itachi..." Fugaku said lowly, to which Satsuki had to take a moment to decipher the sounds that came through the walls. "...are you trying to belittle the Uchiha clan; the greatest clan left in this world?"

The grim tone gave Satsuki pause, as she was sure that this situation was not going to end well. _'What could've possible made Tou-san and Nii-san so angry at each other?'_ Satsuki thought to herself worriedly as she leaned into the door a little more.. She was an emotionally controlled person, some may say stoic, but when her family was involved she could be very... passionate.

"You aren't helping your case here, you're merely proving my point." Itachi replied before silence invaded the building once more. Having had quite her fill of this conversation, Satsuki quietly moved away from the door and began to creep away. Then she faintly heard a creak from within the room; a herald of someone nearing the door from within. Thinking quickly, Satsuki dashed for the nearest chair.

"I'll deal with you later Itachi, I have duties to attend to." Fugaku said coldly as he pulled open the door to see Satsuki sitting in the middle of the room on a chair, reading a book on chakra. She turned towards him with slight interest, before noting who it was and shooting him a pleasant smile. He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before shaking his head and continuing his way out, while Satsuki's eyes trailed suspiciously after him.

She let out a deep but quiet sigh at the lack of a confrontation, before Itachi too walked out of the room, looking significantly more flustered than Fugaku did. He didn't say Satsuki the slightest amount of attention before storming deeper into the compound, presumably towards him room or maybe the garden.

_'I don't like this...'_ She thought to herself while sucking through her teeth. Naturally family disputes happened and were a normal occurrence for most families, but this one did not sound like something that she wanted a part of... hell, she didn't want it to happen at all.

_**Knock Knock**_

Satsuki raised an eyebrow at hearing a knock of the front door, before shrugging and walking over to it. Before she was able to do so, the door opened and three of her fellow clan members walked in, all males of varying ages. She looked at them with irritation, since it was very frowned upon to simply allow yourself entry to the home of another, especially the clan head.

Upon noticing the young girl looking at them, each of them felt a rush of two distinct things. Embarrassment for their impatience and the diminishing manliness that came from being frowned upon by an eight year old girl. That was quickly corrected when they remembered what they were there for.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but we need to see Fugaku immediately." The apparent leader of the small group asked. He was probably middle aged, with silvery-grey hair and squinted eyes. If Satsuki remembered correctly, he was Yashiro Uchiha. She couldn't quite remember the other two along with him though.

She let out a small hum as she tried to think of where her father may have gone, but she was – quite frankly – unsure about where he was heading. He was in quite a hurry, so even though he only left a couple minutes ago, tracking him down wouldn't be easy.

"He left about a minute or two ago... I think Itachi-nii knows where he went." Satsuki said nonchalantly, knowing Itachi was the best lead, despite his current emotional state.

Strangely, each of the three men exchanged a look that spelled trouble upon the mention that Itachi was around without Fugaku being there too. Satsuki narrowed her eyes at them questioningly as they began to quietly whisper amongst themselves. Naturally, being the perfectionist and the superior individual that she liked to think she was, she coughed loudly to regain their attention.

"Oh, sorry about that... speaking to Itachi is probably wise, we'll give him a chance." Yashiro said cryptically, the end of the sentence descending into a quiet mutter. Once again, Satsuki's face convulsed slightly in confusion and impatience, but she didn't want to force them to reiterate everything they said... mostly because she didn't care enough.

"Alright, follow me." She said with the most polite tone she could muster, before leading them through the compound as they continually began to whisper to themselves. She considered telling them to either shut up or raise the volume, but that may have been frowned upon.

When she reached Itachi's room, she gave it two taps and received a hum of acknowledgement before letting herself in. Seeing Itachi in a meditative pose in the centre of the room certainly wasn't the thing she was expecting, but it wasn't exactly odd for him either.

"Nii-san, these guys want to talk to you... show them out when you're done okay?" Satsuki said sweetly, getting a strange look from the three men. Satsuki was well known within the community; she was adventurous and quite confident for her age, which made it easy to pick her out from normal children.

"Alright, thank you Satsuki-chan." Itachi said, standing from his pose before turning to face them. Upon seeing who the men were, Satsuki could have sworn that a scowl etched its way across his features before impassiveness captured the air. She then shook the thought of her head before quickly showing herself out of the room, flashing a false smile at the men on her way out.

She began to walk down the hall before finding her curiosity once again too great to ignore. Creeping back down, she ever so slightly parted Itachi's door to see within, before falling silent to watch.

"We know what you did, Itachi."

_**TRANSITION!**_

In the Namikaze/Uzumaki household, Naruto was sat around a table with only himself and his parents. Initially the idea of a 'family discussion' hadn't worried him in the slightest, since he was never really told anything bad or whatever, other than when Kushina scolded him for sneaking downstairs for Ramen in the middle of the night... or when he tried using Ninjutsu indoors... or when he brought home a cat... OK! It happened more often than it should have.

Regardless of that, he could tell this conversation would be different. His parents looked solemn; guilty almost... and it was a frightening sight. His mother was always overbearing and cheery while his father was always controlled but warm all the while. The two were amazing parents and he was well aware of this, he cherished them everyday... but now, he wasn't sure what to think. They just looked so... guilty.

"So... what's up Tou-san, Kaa-san?" Naruto asked nervously, trying to sound as normal as possible. Minato frowned while Kushina furrowed her brows, giving his a sad stare that only served to diminish his already failing smile. Then Minato coughed loudly before letting out a lengthy exhale from his nose.

"I'll be honest here Naruto, I'm... not sure how to broach this topic..." The blond man started, pausing for a second to look at Kushina, who gave the most encouraging smile that she could muster. "...I... _we_ need to tell you about something that happened on the day you were born." He continued, scratching the back of his head idly; giving his hand something to do.

Naruto paused, his forced smile diminishing to a thin line as he contemplated what was happening... if something happened on the day he was born, it obviously affected him in some way, but why was it relevant now of all times? What could it possibly have been to have been kept a secret for as long as it has been?

"You know about the battle between the Shodai and Madara Uchiha, right?" The man questioned, trying to ease into the subject. Naruto nodded, knowing most of it. "...and you know that the Kyūbi was used in that battle, and that it belongs to the species known as the Bijū (Tailed Beast(s))?" He continued, once again receiving a nod from the boy. Most people didn't know of the Bijū, but Naruto had done a lot of research on the Hokage of the past (mostly to see how they measured up to his father) and the Shodai had interested him greatly, what with the **Mokuton **and creating Konoha.

"Yeah, I know about them... why?" Naruto asked sceptically; unsure as to why any of this was relevant. In his youth he was quite wise for his age, not on the level of someone like Itachi, but that didn't mean he would account for every minor detail. If he been older, he likely would have known the reason why this topic was being raised, but he didn't.

Kushina sighed sadly, lowering her head a little as she recalled making the decision to seal the Kyūbi into Naruto. A thousand thoughts about that day had run through her head, 'should I have waited?', 'should I have looked for other candidates' and so many more... though the deed was done and chances were that Naruto would die if the Kyūbi was extracted for the simple detail that it had almost always been a part of him. Ripping it out would be like taking out the framework for his entire chakra network.

"Listen to me carefully, Naru-chan..." Kushina said affectionately, wearing her happiest smile which instantly calmed me. "...what I'm about to say may scare you, but it'll all be fine, understand?" Naruto nodded slowly and with concern, while Minato grabbed Kushina's hand comfortingly with a stoic frown on his face. She breathed deeply before beginning.

"For a long time, much before you were born... I was the Jinchūiki of the Kyūbi; its container." She stated, though she didn't actually need to rectify since it was commonly known that Mito was the first Jinchūiki of the beast and Naruto had found mention of her during his research.

He let out a gasp, since he had no idea how being a Jinchūiki worked. Those details were unlisted – likely to protect Mito and other Jinchūiki from abuse – but he knew it couldn't have been good. Naruto misinterpreted the reason for this conversation, believing that his mother was experiencing issues because she was a Jinchūiki, when it was the other way around.

"However..." She continued, making Naruto settle down before he could question with an assertive gaze and an outstretched hand. "...on the day you were born, my seal was... tampered with, and I was forced to re-seal it elsewhere." Naruto frowned in confusion. He'd read that Jinchūiki usually stayed Jinchūiki for life or died, so he was a little confused.

"So... why do I need to know this? Who'd you re-seal it in?" Naruto asked curiously, still not having grasped the true meaning of the discussion. Kushina let out a laugh, she was certain Kami was making Naruto not understand just to punish her by making her spell it out. Honestly, the kid was a genius some places and a moron in others...

"Well that's the thing..." She said, fiddling with her hair which Minato sighed at. He didn't want to put her through this, but it needed to be said. "...I had to re-seal it into somebody... appropriate for the role; strong chakra and life force, you know... so the most obvious candidate was, uh... it was... _you_." By this point, Kushina was having difficulty controlling herself and she was fighting back the tears bubbling to the surface. Unfortunately, seeing Naruto's shocked expression pierces the floodgates.

She began to cry and Minato merely averted his eyes in shame. Sealing the world's most powerful creature into your own son wasn't fun... nor was it gratifying in the slightest. Unlike Kushina he was aware that it was necessary, but it still didn't feel good. The Kage then snaked his arm around Kushina while she cried, whispering that she was sorry while Naruto just stared at them, still unsure what to make of the news.

"So... the Kyūbi... is inside me?" Naruto asked absently, his eyes not moving to register his own words. Minato nodded calmly; he knew Naruto needed to come to terms with the news his own way. "...and Kaa-san had it too?" Again, Minato responded with a nod.

Against all odds, a strange smile broke across Naruto's face. Kushina's crying slowed to a slight sniffle as she saw her son's face light up as though he'd been told good news and she took to staring at him in pure surprise. Minato also furrowed his brows, unsure what to make of the development. It was entirely possible he'd have a crazy laughing fit from the intensity of the news, because some people handled news in that way... but it never came.

"Well if Kaa-san can live with it and still be awesome, then so can I!" The red-head shouted with determination that made Kushina blink repeatedly while Minato let a lopsided smile grace his features from the sheer unpredictability of his crazy kid. Once Kushina was down blinking in surprise, a joyous smile spread over her face as she realized that Naruto didn't hold and malice over the action, before quickly running to embrace him.

Naruto saw Kushina darting towards him and had no time to react before being pressed against her generous chest and rocked around, which didn't accomplish much other than give him a concussion. Minato watched the events with the same lopsided smile, which had shifted into a smirk by the time she was done. He shook his head before he stood up and began walking out of the room with a final thought.

_'This is my family. Heh, I'm so screwed... and I wouldn't change a thing.'_

_**TRANSITION!**_

Satsuki tilted her head in confusion and one could swear small question marks flew around her head as she processed the strange allegation that Itachi had just been given. _'We know what you've done? What kinda opener is that?' _She thought with a small look of scepticism. Itachi was a devoted Shinobi, she had serious doubts that he'd done anything.

"I have no idea what you guys are referring to, but I don't appreciate being the target of strange allegations." Itachi said calmly, as he sat down on a small chair and began emptying a pouch filled with Shuriken and Kunai before seemingly going to count them. The leader of the accusing party scowled at the ignorance, before gripping Itachi's shoulder tightly and turning the boy towards him.

"We're being very serious here Itachi! We know it was you, we were just giving you the chance to come clean before we told Fugaku." Yashiro shouted, clearing furious over Itachi's proclaimed innocence to... whatever it is they were discussing.

Itachi let out a snorted laugh at the mention of Fugaku's name, much to the surprise of the men, before standing up once more and pacing the room for a few moments. He stared at them inquisitively, his **Sharingan** now active, causing all of the other men to activate their own Dōjutsu. With a shake of the head, Itachi sat back down.

"When someone gives out allegations, they are meant to say what the allegations are. Would you prefer we talk in a circle all day?" The young-but-wise Uchiha siblings stated stoically, confusing the men who had just sworn that he was about to initiate a fight. Yashiro shook his head vigorously, before letting out a small growl.

"I didn't want to spell it out, but fine! We found Shisui's body, and we know it was _you_ that killed him!" The man said angrily. His anger dissipated and the look on his face became a little worried as all sound in the house stopped. There wasn't the chirping of birds, the rustling of trees outside... there was just silence.

Meanwhile, Satsuki was shell shocked from the accusation. _'No way, Nii-san could never kill Shisui! They were best friends!' _She thought to herself, covering her mouth in fear of giving away her location. Itachi sighed and looked down at his desk, fiddling with some Shuriken before packing all the things back into the small pouch.

"Well this is unfortunate, isn't it?" He said, slowly rising from his seat while all the other men in the room deepened their stances in preparation for a fight. "...I guess we'll have to settle this." Satsuki could swear he looked at her when he said this, peering at the crack in the door as his eye shifted into a pin-wheel shape, before he snapped his head to face them.

"T-that's the Mange-" Yashiro started, but unfortunately Itachi only gave them a moment to soak it in before acting.

"**Amaterasu." **The boy said calmly, as he cried out a red stream of blood from his socket and his eyes became bloodshot all in an instant, before the men were lit aflame by roaring black flames and fell to the ground screaming. Itachi once again turned to the door, to see nobody there.

"Satsuki-chan... how foolish." He muttered, before taking off after her.

Meanwhile she was sprinting through the house, tears falling from her eyes as she ducked and weaved through corridors. She couldn't believe what she just saw, and nor did she understand it. Itachi's eyes had become... more than what was meant to be possible with the **Sharingan** alone! He'd killed three of their clan members ruthlessly, and Shisui too!

As she ran, she never noticed a figure standing in her way – which she then promptly bumped into. She fell to the ground, fearfully snapping her head up to see the silhouetted face of Itachi; his pin-wheel eyes spinning maliciously in the shadows. Before she knew it, everything was darkening and she left the realm of consciousness.

_**TRANSITION!**_

Satsuki then shot up in her bed, sweating profusely. She looked around violently to see nothing out of the ordinary. No, everything was how it should have been; it was sunny outside, her room was immaculate (as per usual) and Itachi was asleep in a chair beside her bed. She recoiled in fear, but that caused him to awake and sleepily rub his eyes before locking them with her own. The warm smile that spread across his face instantly disarmed and confused her.

"Ah Satsuki-chan, you're awake... you've been unconscious with a fever all afternoon." He said, reaching over and feeling her forehead. After he retracted his arm, she did the same, feeling her forehead to see signs of honesty. True enough, there was a temperature there and there were things in her room that could signify that somebody sick was inhabiting the room. Things like water, some pills, a thermometer etc.

"W...when did I fall asleep?" Satsuki asked with worry, which genuinely seemed to concern Itachi as he placed a hand on her own while wearing his best sibling-friendly smile that he could. She felt herself calm down from the warm and gentle touch, allowing the smallest of smiles to grace her face.

"Tou-san said he spoke to you just before he left and I saw you a little bit after that before heading to the study, but then after a while I found you passed out in the living room." Itachi replied, noticeably embarrassed. He even acknowledged his argument with their father, so this was all starting to sound pretty believable... but what kind of nightmare was that elaborate?

Seeing her worried and confused face, Itachi stood from the chair and sat at the edge of the bed, gently rubbing the back of his hand across her face which made her hum in appreciation. If anyone else tried doing this to her, she'd probably break their arms, but Itachi was very special to her... despite her strange dreams.

"You were tossing and turning quite a bit too... I think I even saw you crying at one point." The boy stated, a knowing smirk adorning his face as he finished. A blush of embarrassment overcame Satsuki as her fears were completely dissipated by Itachi's comforting nature. It was all one elaborate dream.

Eventually she drifted back to sleep, before Itachi left the room, a dark grin on his face as he did so.

**-****End-**

**I realise this chapter was probably not as entertaining as you would've liked, given the excessive amount of time it took me to write it and the fact that it was quite boring... but hey! I got it out at least.**

**Anyway... Review, Favourite and/or Follow.**

**LiamMorg. Out.**

**Ja Ne!**


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